Walk the High Road

By President Gordon B. Hinckley

From a March 2004 general Young Women meeting address.

President Hinckley teaches us to build happy futures through prayer, faith, and keeping the commandments.

My dear young friends, you are the strength of the present, the hope of the future. You are the sum of all the generations that have gone before, the promise of all that will come hereafter.

You must know, as you’ve been told, that you are not alone in this world. There are hundreds of thousands of you. You live in many lands. You speak various languages. And every one of you has something divine within you.

You are second to none. Your Eternal Father is the great Master of the universe. He rules over all, but He also will listen to your prayers and hear you as you speak with Him. He will answer your prayers. He will not leave you alone.

In my quiet moments, I think of the future with all of its wonderful possibilities and with all of its terrible temptations. I wonder what will happen to you in the next 10 years. Where will you be? What will you be doing? That will depend on the choices you make, some of which may seem unimportant at the time but which will have tremendous consequences.

You have the potential to become anything to which you set your mind. You have a mind and a body and a spirit. With these three working together, you can walk the high road that leads to achievement and happiness. But this will require effort and sacrifice and faith. You will be expected to put forth great effort and to use your best talents to make your way to the most wonderful future of which you are capable. Occasionally, there will likely be serious disappointments. But there will be helping hands along the way to give you encouragement and strength to move forward.

As you walk the road of life, be careful of your friends. They can make you or break you. Be generous in helping the unfortunate and those in distress. But bind to you friends of your own kind, friends who will encourage you, stand with you, live as you desire to live; who will enjoy the same kind of entertainment; and who will resist the evil that you determine to resist.

Never assume that you can make it alone. You need the help of the Lord. Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him. What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven. He will hear and respond, but we need to listen to that response. Nothing is too serious and nothing too unimportant to share with Him. He has said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He continues, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:30).

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be a beacon light before you, a polar star in your sky.

Illustrated by Belgin K. Wedman