The Lighthouse

By President Thomas S. Monson

First Counselor in the First Presidency

Photograph by Busath Photography

From a Church Educational System satellite broadcast address given on September 7, 2003, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

President Monson teaches that we have access to the lighthouse of the Lord.

Young people, you live in tumultuous times. You have choices to make—choices with eternal consequences. But you are not left unaided in your decisions, however small or however large they may be.

It has been said that history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. That is why it is worthwhile to look ahead, to set a course, to be ready when the moment of decision comes.

I ask the question, “What will be your faith?” Decide to ever follow the admonition of King Benjamin: “If you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).

In this life, where we have opportunities to strive and to achieve, I bear witness that on occasion we need to make a second effort—and a third effort, and a fourth effort, and as many degrees of effort as may be required to accomplish what we strive to achieve.

Should you become discouraged, remember that others have passed this same way; they have endured and then have achieved. When we have done all that we are able to do, we can then rely on God’s promised help.

You have access 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. It seems to call to you and me: “This way to safety; this way to home.”

If you want to see the light of heaven, if you want to feel the inspiration of Almighty God, if you want to have that feeling within your bosom that your Heavenly Father is guiding you to the left or guiding you to the right, instructions from this passage will help you: “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved” (D&C 87:8), and then the Spirit of our Heavenly Father will be yours.

Illustrated by Greg Newbold