In speaking to Ensign College graduates on Friday, April 7, Elder James W. McConkie III noted that graduates will mostly likely go on to do remarkable professional things. But his primary hope is they remain committed to being faithful, flexible and fearless disciples of Jesus Christ.
“We hope that you will always be resilient and grounded, ready to venture into the unknown and to learn, through opposition, to be righteous and happy and to embrace the lifelong curriculum of discipleship,” he told graduates gathered in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.
Elder McConkie, a General Authority Seventy, was the keynote speaker for the school’s winter commencement exercises.
In his remarks, he shared with graduates an observation, a story, some advice and a scripture.
The observation
Ensign College’s mission is to “develop capable and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ.”
That is what sets it apart from other comparable academic institutions, Elder McConkie commented. “Jesus is and has been at the center of your Ensign experience. His invitation to a life of discipleship is the guiding vision of Ensign College.”
The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once explained to a group of students, “Given the purpose of the mortal experience, your university education is an education within an education.”
If that is the case, then “the great curriculum of life is discipleship,” Elder McConkie said. Certificates, degree, diplomas and careers matter and are to be celebrated.
“But the realization of our eternal potential comes from heeding the invitation to discipleship Jesus first made to Peter at the Sea of Galilee. ‘Follow me,’ He said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matthew 4:19).
The story
Elder McConkie shared about the life of the late Elder Hugh B. Brown, who served as an Apostle and in the First Presidency in the 1960s and 1970s.
Throughout his married life, Elder Brown tried a variety of careers, including working in a mercantile co-op, on a ranch and in the insurance industry. He served in Europe during World War I as part of the Canadian 13th Overseas Mounted Rifles group.
Eventually he studied law, worked as a partner in a law firm, as a professor at Brigham Young University and as an executive in the oil and gas industry in Canada before becoming an Apostle.
“Elder Brown’s academic and professional path was long, varied and extensive. It started and stopped, took unexpected turns, and moved around,” Elder McConkie noted.
Elder Brown experienced successes and setbacks. “But with each step Elder Brown gained wisdom,” Elder McConkie said. “He learned righteousness and happiness by and through his experience. With time, he came to trust in God and to understand more and more clearly that the essential, most valuable lessons in his life were those which taught and led him to greater, more intentional discipleship. The great curriculum of Elder Brown’s life was discipleship.”
Some advice
In a speech to a group of graduating students, Elder Brown once said: “If you will always keep in mind that you are actually the children of your Heavenly Father, that there is something of Him in you, and that you may aspire to become something like that from which you came and cooperate with Him in the unfinished work of creation, you will remember that His plan for the salvation of His children had purpose behind it — a design to be carried out. If you keep these great truths in mind, you will be fortified and sustained, whatever life may hold for you.
“It is important not only that you keep growing but that you be versatile, adaptive, and unafraid to venture. … Seek to obtain a certain flexibility of mind that will inspire you to listen, to learn and to adapt as you move forward into a new and ever-expanding universe.”
Elder McConkie added, “I think that is good advice from a wise and experienced disciple.”
A scripture
The first chapter of John records Andrew’s first experience with Jesus. Andrew was standing with John the Baptist on the day after Jesus’ baptism. As Jesus walked by, John tells Andrew, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:36).
Andrew pursues the Savior and at some point Jesus asks him, “What seek ye?” Andrew then has the opportunity to “abide” with the Savior for an evening.
“We know from the Gospels that Andrew would not only pledge his discipleship to Jesus, but that he would later be called as one of the Lord’s Apostles,” Elder McConkie said.
Like Elder Brown, and like graduates of an institution whose primary mission it is to teach and develop disciples of Christ, Andrew’s most important decision, his most important education, was that of discipleship.
“Our primary prayer and hope for each of you is that you do so committed to being the faithful, flexible and fearless disciples exemplified by Andrew, and described by Elder Brown,” Elder McConkie said.
Quest of a lifetime
Ensign College President Bruce C. Kusch noted that what graduates will take with them from the school has little to do with their diplomas.
“Today we only celebrate and recognize what you have achieved academically; but the most important achievement is not this, as significant as it is. Rather, it is what you have become as capable and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ,” President Kusch said.
That is a quest of a lifetime. “It happens day after day as you are firm, steadfast and immovable in making correct choices, in remembering how God has blessed your life, in striving to know God’s will for you — and then doing it without hesitation as you come to understand what it is,” he said.
During Friday’s ceremony, 26 bachelor’s degrees were awarded in addition to 332 associate degrees and 1,310 certificates.
