Open gates of performance, preparation and service
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REXBURG, Idaho — The gate of history swings on small hinges, and so do people's lives, said President Thomas S. Monson to a worldwide congregation of college-age young adults gathered Jan. 14 for the first Church Educational System fireside of the year 2001.
"This evening I have chosen to discuss three gates which you alone can open," said the first counselor in the First Presidency, speaking of the "gate of preparation," the "gate of performance" and the "gate of service."
"You must pass through each gate if you are to be successful in your journey through mortality," he said.
President Monson addressed more than 4,000 young adults gathered in Ricks College's Hart Auditorium. Thousands more heard the address live, via satellite, throughout North, Central and South America. The fireside, translated into 22 languages, was broadcast on a delayed basis throughout Europe and will also be made available on videotape to institute students around the world — reaching an estimated 250,000 young adults.
During the fireside, President Monson asked the young adults if they are where they want to be with their lives. "If not," he said, "what are you going to do about it? To help us focus our answers, we may wish to consider this formula for success:
"Be where we ought to be.
"Be what we ought to be.
"Say what we ought to say.
"Do what we ought to do."
Quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith, President Monson explained that happiness is the object and design of every man's existence. To find it, one must pursue the path that leads to it — virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness and keeping all the commandments of God.
After reflecting on years gone by and the challenges, objectives and opportunities that accompanied them, President Monson noted that there are some constancies amid the changes of the times.
"The past is behind — learn from it. The future is ahead — prepare for it. The present is now — live in it."
Then President Monson spoke of the three gates — preparation, performance and service — that if opened will ensure success through the young adults' mortal journey.
The gate of preparation
"It is necessary to prepare, to plan, so that we don't fritter away our lives," said President Monson. "Without a goal, there can be no real success."
Preparation, he added, is hard work but absolutely essential for progress.
"Have discipline in your preparations. Have checkpoints where you can determine if you're on course. Study something you like and which will make it possible for you to support a family.
"While this counsel would apply almost certainly to young men, it also has relevance to young women. There are situations in life which we cannot predict which will require employable skills. You can't get the jobs of tomorrow until you have the skills of today."
President Monson cautioned the young adults to make sure that as they prepare, they do not procrastinate. Procrastination "deprives us of the fullest realization of our ambitions and hopes," he said.
The gate of performance
Like the gate of preparation, a person, alone, must open the gate of performance, said President Monson.
"Remember that the mantle of leadership is not the cloak of comfort, but the robe of responsibility," said President Monson. "Accountability is not for the intention but for the deed. You must continue to refuse to compromise with expediency. You must maintain the courage to defy the consensus. You must continue to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong."
President Monson told the young adults that when they need help they can rely on God.
"You have access, my dear brothers and sisters, to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no mariner so lost, no gale so strong as to render useless the lighthouse of the Lord. It beckons through the storms of life."
He then asked the worldwide congregation to choose their friends carefully and show love for their parents.
Throughout his address, President Monson illustrated key points by speaking of those who exemplified high and noble principles. He drew one such illustration from the funeral of Elder H. Verlan Andersen, who had served in the Seventy. President Monson said that Elder Andersen's son told how his father had walked a long distance to Church one Sunday morning rather than purchase gasoline on the Sabbath after the son had forgotten to fill the car's empty tank after a date on Saturday night. "In concluding his funeral message, Elder Andersen's son said, 'No son ever was taught more effectively by his father than I was on that occasion. My father not only knew the truth, but he also taught the truth and he also lived the truth.' "
President Monson said youth need fewer critics and more models, like Elder Andersen, to follow.
The gate of service
Illustrating the gate of service, President Monson told of a touching act he observed one Sunday as he attended the sacrament meeting of a small branch that consisted of patients in a nursing home. When an elderly sister said that she was cold, a young priest placed his suit coat around her shoulders and then returned to his duties at the sacrament table. Later, the young man apologized for blessing the sacrament without his suit coat. "Quietly, I said to him that he was never more appropriately dressed than he was that day when a dear widow was uncomfortably cold and he provided the warmth she needed by placing his jacket around her shoulders," he said.
In another example, President Monson spoke of a friend Louis McDonald who, because of a crippling disease, never knew a day without pain or loneliness. When local priesthood leaders had pointed out to them some things that needed to be done to improve Brother McDonald's living conditions, members rallied to help, particularly young adults. Repairs and improvements were made on his home, hot meals were provided and visits were made. "All who participated in this moving drama of real life had discovered a new and personal appreciation of the Master's teaching, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
President Monson said that the scriptures are replete with examples of service by the servants of the Lord and by Jesus, Himself. Jesus "made lame beggars to walk and blind men to see," he said. "He cleansed the lepers and healed the centurion's servant. He restored to the widow at Nain her dead son, who through Him now lived. He raised Lazarus from the tomb. He forgave the woman taken in adultery. He atoned for the sins of all of us. He died that we might eternally live.
"As we go about our daily lives, we discover countless opportunities to follow the example of the Savior. When our hearts are in tune with His teachings, we discover the unmistakable nearness of His divine help. It is almost as though we are on the Lord's errand; and we then discover the truth that when we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help."
President Monson told the young adults they can seek Heavenly help for themselves.
"At times some may think that no one cares — but someone always cares. Your Heavenly Father will not leave you to struggle alone but stands ever ready to help."
He added that Church members should seek heavenly help also to know how to serve others. "There is no feeling so gratifying nor knowledge so comforting as to know that our Father has answered the prayer of another through you."
President Monson closed his fireside address by reiterating the importance of the points in his message. "Tonight, my dear brothers and sisters, I pray earnestly that you may open wide the three gates of which I have spoken — the gate of preparation, the gate of performance and the gate of service — and walk through them to your exaltation."
