Talk given to the stake youth, 13 March 2021

As Jesus stood before Pilate, Pilate asked Him:  "Art thou a king?"

Jesus answered, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."  (John 18:37).

Which puts questions into my mind:  "To what end was I born?  To what end were you born?  For what purpose were you and I sent into the world?  What purpose are we supposed to fulfill?"

I'm at a stage of life where I can answer these questions about myself.  You haven't gotten there yet, so I want to tell you what I've learned.  These are some of the most important things that I can tell you.  It would be profitable if you would write them down.  I'm going to pause here while pens and papers are passed out here in the chapel, and while you who are watching at home can find your own.

"Art thou a king?" Pilate asked Jesus.

Jesus answered, "To this end was I born," --and you were, too.

The first thing I want you to write down is, "I am a king," or "I am a queen."  Don't take this lightly, because I mean it.  It will literally be so.  To this end were you born into the world, that when you pass into the next one you will be ready to progress to your intended destiny.

Listen to what President Ezra Taft Benson told a gathering of youth in southern California:

     "For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming.  Every previous gospel dispensation has drifted into apostasy, but ours will not... God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the kingdom triumphantly.  And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God... Make no mistake about it--you are a marked generation.  There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us... Each day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go.  The final outcome is certain--the forces of righteousness will finally win.  What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this fight--and how tall we will stand.  Will we be true to our last-days', foreordained mission?"  (Ensign, November 1989, 36-37).

You waited thousands of years in the pre-earth existence for your turn to come here.  You were anxious for that day to finally arrive.  There is a reason why you weren't a part of ancient Babylonian society, or of some other idolatrous society, and why you weren't born in the Middle Ages.  It was decreed, instead, by our all-wise creator, that you would be born into a place and circumstances where you would be in settings such as this where you could receive instruction to prepare you for the important work that you have been sent here to do.  There is nothing accidental about the timing of your birth and your placement here.  You can write that down.

How do I know that?

Prophet after prophet has stated that you were reserved for this day.  The reason is that you are special!  Write that down.  You weren't an uncommitted bystander in the war in heaven.  You were on the front lines.  The Lord is depending upon you, and knows that He can count on you to uphold His work and His cause again.

The other way that I know this is because of my own experiences.  Every one of you is light years ahead of where I was at your age.  When I was your age I didn't know a thing about religion.  I didn't know if God even existed.  I didn't know if the Father and the Son were one being or two beings, or not a being at all, or a spirit, or just some force in the universe.

And do you know what?  Neither does the pope or most of the pastors of other churches.  You know more about true religion than they do.  They're not sure if Jesus is a God.  They don't know that the Father and the Son are separate embodied beings.  They don't know that they are children of God, but you do.

Two 19-year-old girls from Texas and Tonga have been teaching the gospel to my non-member brother and his wife.  He asked in amazement, "How do you know so much!?  I'm amazed at the way you can teach."

They're also amazed at how shiny the girls are.  They have a light within that comes out their eyes.--You do, too.

When I was in high school, my best friends were the Latter-day Saint youth.  I distinctly remember thinking that if religion should ever become important to me that I would first look at their church because they were the most Christian of any people that I knew.

Back in the 1980s the Church wanted to build a center in Jerusalem where BYU students could go and study in the Holy Land.  In order to get permission to build the center, the Church had to agree that no proselyting would be undertaken by our members who would occupy the center.  The Church made that promise.  Teddy Kolleck, then mayor of Jerusalem said, "We know you'll honor the no-proselyting agreement, but what are we going to do about the light that is in their eyes?"  (Ensign, November 2015, 86-87).

He could see it.  I saw it.  Everyone sees it.  You stand out.

Two sharp-looking missionaries knocked on a door in California.  A woman opened it, took one look, and said, "I don't know what you're selling, but I'll buy it."--And she did!  She listened, and she was baptized.

Write down a word about those stories to remind you so that you can repeat them to Mom and Dad.  Keep taking notes.

I hesitate to tell what I'm going to say now because I fear that some of you will think that you don't measure up.  So first I will repeat that every one of you is light years ahead of where I was when I was your age.  (Did you write that down?)  I will then say that every one of you has self doubts and suspects that you're a nobody, but here is what I'm experiencing as a patriarch.

When you call me to set an appointment for a patriarchal blessing, I tell you to come in your Sunday clothes. and I tell you that it's not required, but that it's recommended, that you come fasting.  If you're fasting, it makes my job so much easier.  For my part I'm told that it's not necessary for me to fast before each blessing, but so far I haven't had the courage to not be fasting.

I lay my hands on your heads, and amazing promises come out of my mouth.  Thoughts come almost faster than I can state them.  Emotions build up inside me, and spill out of my eyes.  I think to myself, "I must remember this young man or this young woman, because she or he is going to make a mark on the world.  He or she is going to be a magnificent parent."

I make a mental note to remember you, and then the next young person is just the same, and the next, and the next, and you all get jumbled up in my mind.  The only person I distinctly remember is Hallie Grigg.  She had the courage to go to a brand-new patriarch who had never given a blessing before.  I wouldn't have done that.  I remember Hallie because of the relief I felt when I learned that the system really works, and that the Lord had a blessing just for her.  He has a personal blessing for each of you, and every word of your blessing will be ratified by the Lord if you live for it.

When you come to me, I promise that your blessing is going to be very positive.  I think some of you are nervous about getting your patriarchal blessings because you fear that the Lord might reveal some negative thing about you.  I promise that won't happen.  The Lord sees you as special.  He sees what you'll be as a finished product.  He knows who you were in the pre-earth life.  He recognizes that you're currently in training, and He knows how you're going to turn out.

Remember, He's your creator.  You're a work in progress.  The two of you are working together to create this masterpiece; and the day will come when you'll both stand back and admire your accomplishment and pronounce it "very good."

All you have to do is be good.  If you're trying, and if you'll keep the commandments, the Lord can make you into anything that He wants, and you'll fulfill the purposes for which you've been sent  here.

You're going to be "wrought upon" by the Holy Ghost.  Chapter 13 of First Nephi says that Columbus was "wrought upon" to do what he did.  Here are his own words:

 "With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies ...  This was a fire that burned within me.  Who can doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit."

     What happened was that an idea came into his mind.  This is going to happen to you.  You're going to become excited about that idea, and you need to act upon it.  It might be an idea like the one Johannes Gutenberg had that resulted in the making of the world's first printing press.  He gave thanks by making the Holy Bible the first book that he printed.

It might be an idea like the one that 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth had.  He was a Latter-day Saint farm boy in southeastern Idaho.  While looking at the straight lines of a plowed field the idea came into his head of how to make the world's first TV.  He and Johannes Gutenberg were "wrought upon" by the Holy Ghost.

You will hopefully feel "wrought upon" because of a young man or a young woman that you will feel like marrying.  It will be part of the plan.

The patriarchal blessings of both me and my wife mention the spirits that were reserved to be our children.  Think of that.  Do you suppose that the Lord has already set aside a choice group of His spirits who are to become your children?  I wonder if they see you.  I wonder if they pray for you.  I'm sure that my grandparents see me and pray for me.  I'm sure that they rejoiced when in answer to their prayers I had their temple work done.  Joseph Smith said that "they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith."  (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 326).

     If your ancestors are that aware of you, I don't think it would be a stretch to think that your unborn children are also aware of you, but I don't know that.  We thought that we'd probably have five, like both sets of our parents, but we ended up with 10.  They're our best friends, and the purpose for which we were sent here.  I will be everlastingly grateful that we didn't close the door on any of their births like so many people do these days.

You're all--every one of you--special.  But you all--every one of you--have lots of imperfections.  You all--every one of you--need to make some changes, and you've all wished that you could.  You won't be able to make those changes until you change something that you do daily

Here are some suggestions:  Write them down, and then pick one to work on--not all five, just one.  When you have that one working in your life you can come back and pick up another one.

1)  Have daily prayer and scripture study.

I know people who roll out of bed onto their knees.  That's admirable, but I don't do that.  Some people read their scriptures in the morning.  President Kimball once said that he'd read the Book of Mormon 77 times.  Why on earth would anyone do that?  Why on earth has every prophet told us to read the Book of Mormon daily?  That's a question worth pondering.  Every night I go to bed reading my scriptures.  I've done that for decades.  That may be why my shoulders are rounded.  It doesn't matter how and when you study and pray, but find out what works for you, and do it every day at that same time.

2)  Make a 3-item To-Do list.  Do it every morning.  It will focus your priorities, and at the end of the day you'll have a sense of accomplishment.

3)  Turn off the TV or your devise.

There are more fulfilling things to do in life than to watch someone else live theirs.

4).  Organize your bedroom.

Your life will be a mirror of your room.  If your room is messy, I would wager that your life is, too.

Don't drag yesterday's mess into today.  Straighten up your room,  Get rid of the clutter.  Organize.  Put your dirty clothes where they belong as you take them off.  Make your bed when you get out of it.  Once you've gotten rid of the clutter, these things don't take any time at all.  These habits will carry over into your marriage, and will make your spouse happy and grateful that he or she married you.

5).  Refuse to get angry or to argue.  Practice gratitude instead.  Gratitude drives out discontent.

I would suggest that you keep a journal.  You need to write something every day.  Maybe you'll write just three lines about a good thing that's happened to you, or maybe you'll write three pages.  Writing disentangles your thoughts when they pass through your fingertips.  Writing helps you think better and live better.  It forces you to become more observant.

I have 62 volumes of journals that occupy three feet of shelf above my computer.  My family has instructions that in case of fire they're to first save the family, and to then get my journals.  Everything else is replaceable.

Elder Boyd K. Packer told a story that has profoundly affected all 51 years of my married life.  He told of going home teaching to a little invalid woman shortly before his own marriage.  She told him of the supremely happy marriage that she had as a young woman, and then focused in on a Monday morning.  "There had been some irritation and a disagreement.  Then some biting words between husband and wife.  Interestingly enough, she couldn't remember how it all started or what it was over.  'But,' she said, 'nothing would do but that I follow him to the gate, and as he walked up the street on his way to work I just had to call that last biting, spiteful remark after him.'

"Then as the tears began to flow, she told me of an accident that took place that day, and he never returned.  'For fifty years,' she sobbed, 'I've lived in hell knowing that the last words he heard from my lips were that biting, spiteful remark.'"

Elder Packer then said these words, which are burned into my memory and into my very being:
"I have come to know since that time that a couple can live together without one cross word ever passing between them."  (The Ensign, January 1973, 89-90).  Elder Packer had that sort of marriage.  So do I.  So can you, but it's all going to depend upon you, not your spouse.  You need to start practicing now.

I will end with two observations made by the Prophet Joseph Smith.  He said that if you could see yourself as a spirit being before coming to earth, you would see a bright, shining being that you would feel like falling down and worshiping.

He also said that "If you live up to your principles, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates."

Please don't underestimate your potential.  Please don't lose sight of who you are, and who you are to become.  Hopefully you have felt "wrought upon" by some idea you've heard here tonight.

And may I suggest that you take your notes home now, and write a few lines in your journal about what the Spirit has said to you.

I bear testimony that you are engaged in the most important and most exciting thing happening on this earth today, and to this end were you born.