Preparation is vital factor to success
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PROVO, Utah — When one contemplates the eternal nature of one's
choices, preparation is a vital factor to success, President Thomas S.
Monson told BYU students Sept. 12.
Speaking at the weekly devotional in the Marriott Center on the campus, President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, who was accompanied to Provo by his wife, Frances, added, "The day will come when we will look upon our period of preparation and be grateful that we properly applied ourselves."
During his address, which was filled with reflections and counsel, as well as his customary warmth and humor, President Monson related the account of "Pip," in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. After "Little Pip," a poor orphan boy, was told by a London lawyer that an "unknown benefactor" had bequeathed him a fortune, the lawyer then put his arm around the boy and said, "My boy, you have great expectations."
"Today, as I look at you, my young brothers and sisters, I contemplate who you are and what you are and who you may become. I say to you, as that lawyer said to Pip, you have great expectations — not as a result of an unknown benefactor, but as a result of a known benefactor, even our Heavenly Father, and great things are expected of you.
"You are living in one of the most precious and privileged periods of all human history — a period of change and challenge and infinite promise," President Monson added.
Then, in giving counsel about preparing during these promising but turbulent times, he offered his thoughts on "three classrooms pertaining to our lives. One is the classroom of home, another is the classroom of school and, finally, the classroom of Church."
He continued: "When we don't do anything to disappoint the Lord, we honor our father, our mother. We cannot truly honor our parents without serving God, and we cannot serve God without honoring our parents.
"When we leave the house we call home, we take with us in our hearts and in our minds the lessons we learned in that precious classroom. They have provided us the foundation stones of virtue, of sacrifice, of confidence, of testimony and of love.
President Monson recalled his time teaching at a university level. "I remember that some students seemed to know where they were going. They applied themselves; they had objectives; they had goals; and they worked toward the achievement of these objectives and goals. But other students could not have cared less. They seemed to be drifting on a sea of chance, with waves of failure threatening to engulf them."
He then offered a rule for ambitious young people. "The rule is, 'Find a vacuum and expand into it.' Ask yourself, 'What is there that needs doing and is not being done?' Then assess your capacity for doing things and let it be your ambition to do the work that you can do best, in an area where it is needed most, and then put all your mind into it.
He reminded students, "We can best ensure our compliance with God's commandments by remembering that our actions are preceded by our thoughts."
However, he cautioned warmly and with a smile, "Your decision to think right, choose right and do right will rarely, if ever, be the easiest course to follow.
"Avoid the pitfalls in the track of life, for they can deprive you of your celestial reward. You can recognize them. They may be labeled, 'Just this once won't matter,' or 'My parents are so old-fashioned.' Bad habits also can be such pitfalls. First, we could break them if we would. Later, we would break them if we could."
In his closing remarks, President Monson bore fervent testimony of Jesus Christ. "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me and the love Jesus offers you. Oh, my young brothers and sisters, provide time in your lives and room in your homes and in your hearts, and He will be a welcome companion. He will be by your side. He will teach you the way of truth. With His help and with the preparation about which we have spoken, you can go forward in this great race of life and achieve that which the lawyer Jaggers said to little Pip — even your great expectations."
Offering the benediction during the meeting was one of President Monson's grandsons, Alan Dibb, a BYU student. Giving the invocation was Ned Hill, dean of the Marriott School of Business. President Monson graduated cum laude from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Later, he received a Master of Business Administration degree from BYU. In April 1981, BYU conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. — Julie A. Dockstader
