REXBURG, Idaho — "A central aim of all universities is to prepare people to live a better life," said Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in speaking at BYU-Idaho's spring commencement. "At this university there has always been a clear vision of what a better life is and what it takes to make it better. Everything here ... has been shaped by that vision. The truly good life is one that qualifies a person for eternal life."

Photo by Michael Lewis

Elder Henry B. Eyring, left, and BYU-Idaho President Kim B. Clark greet graduates at graduation exercises held April 7, 2007. Elder Eyring presided over the school, then known as Ricks College, in the 1970s.

During his visit to the university formerly known as Ricks College, Elder Eyring, who presided at the college from 1971-1977, also rededicated the recently finished additions to the Eliza R. Snow Center for the Performing Arts.

In his commencement address, Elder Eyring said eternal life starts with creating a "family home" here on earth. He said universities normally teach students how to make enough money to support a family. BYU—Idaho, however, "has shown you how to do what will be the most important part of the better life, which will be in your home."

Elder Eyring then gave four ways for graduates to improve their homes and families so they could enjoy that happiness.

"Remember always that a great university is not its buildings and a great family home is not a house. It is the experiences offered there which lead to the truly better life. There are at least four experiences you will want to offer there. They are: helping people to choose to exercise faith, practice charity, find truth and obey commandments. You, in your home, and we, in this university, must get better and better at creating such experiences," Elder Eyring said.

In order to help their families exercise faith, Elder Eyring encouraged graduates to create situations in which they could teach their children and let them choose to exercise faith on what was taught. He reminded students of devotionals in which speakers had given them opportunities to exercise faith.

"You will have a much less grand space in your home. And you will be the speaker. But you must provide an experience that lets them feel what you remember here. It must be inviting for the children," Elder Eyring said. "It will not be enough for you to bear testimony of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost. People will have to choose to listen and then be moved by faith to repent to be better."

Elder Eyring then asked graduates to always find truth. He said the classes they had taken had given them the opportunity "to learn how to find the truth about things as they are, how they were, and even how they will be."

"It takes work, hard work," he said. "You've had teachers here who somehow got you to work beyond what you thought was your endurance limit. And you found that, as you endured, your limit kept getting higher. You must adapt carefully how you set that bar higher in your family home to the capacities of your children and to your own."

Elder Eyring also encouraged graduates to obey the commandments, citing the spiritual power they would receive. The Holy Ghost comes as a result of obedience, he said, and leaves as a result of disobedience. Losing the Holy Ghost then affects the entire household.

"There have been and there will always be rules of personal behavior in a great university and in a great family home," Elder Eyring said. "Keeping those rules brings the blessing of the Holy Ghost which comes when people choose, out of faith, to keep commandments from a loving God."

Elder Eyring concluded, "I hope that I have made you love this university a little bit more and helped you feel how much we love you. I hope you will not forget where you were when you felt the Spirit of Prophecy come from God's servant. I hope that you will not forget where you were when you lifted another student and when someone lifted you. I hope that you will always remember the feeling of experiencing true beauty and knowing that is what it was because you felt lifted higher. And I hope that you will never forget moments here when you were illuminated by truth, because you felt the Spirit come to your obedient heart."

Other commencement speakers included Kim B. Clark, president of BYU—Idaho, and Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. A total of 1,528 students graduated from BYU—Idaho at this spring commencement, including 896 women and 632 men.

After commencement, Elder Eyring attended the convocation for the College of Visual and Performing Arts in the Eliza R. Snow building. He rededicated the structure, including the new additions recently built to provide more room for students and performances. He was president of Ricks College during the planning of the Snow Building, which was completed three years after the end of his term as president in 1977.