President Monson Addresses BYU Students

Fun, friends, family, future, and faith are important words pertaining to the university experience, President Thomas S. Monson told Brigham Young University students at a recent devotional.

“Surely, there is time for proper fun,” said President Monson, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, during the 15 October 1991 fireside. “In the events and activities in our lives, we must beware of the type of fun that would destroy our ideals and would cause us heartbreak. We can certainly participate in that fun which will bring joy to our hearts and souls and prepare us for our future activities and responsibilities.”

Reaching out to others and establishing new friendships is important, emphasized President Monson. “The Lord said, ‘Lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.’ (D&C 81:5.) There are times when every student has hands that hang down and knees that are feeble, [and] needs that clasped hand of friendship and assurance that each one is important and vital.”

President Monson reminded the students of the parents they left at home. “You are their hopes and you are their aspirations and you are their dreams. They are on their knees praying for you every morning and every night, and when you realize that, I’m confident that your activities and, indeed, your actions will reflect the faith that you know your parents have in you. …

“Your conduct on this campus is an extension of your family training,” he observed. “Your principles are on trial.”

The time to prepare for the future is in the present, President Monson continued. “This is the day to decide, for decisions literally determine destiny. … This is your day of decision and, oh, my young brothers and sisters, think and ponder and pray about the decisions in your life. Very few are trivial. Most of them have far-reaching consequences.”

Faith was the final word President Monson discussed. “The Apostle Paul, in writing to his disciple Timothy, made a statement that I love. ‘Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.’ (1 Tim. 4:12.)

“What a challenge, what an opportunity, to be literally an example. … That’s the charge I would leave with you, to be such an example.”