We certainly know that Laman and Lemuel were resentful when Lehi and his family were commanded to leave Jerusalem. Let people repent. I’ll be okay without a degree. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. overridebuttonBgColor= . Jeffrey R. Holland is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.. Elder Holland was born on December 3, 1940, and grew up in St. George, Utah. He served as the ninth President of Brigham Young University and is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). overrideTextAlignment=, Zion: Temples of Learning and Temples of Faith, Jeffrey R. Holland, Dan Marriott, Marvin J. Ashton Devotional. April 23, 2005. There is something in us, at least in too many of us, that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life—either mistakes we ourselves have made or the mistakes of others. In the time we have this morning, I am not going to talk to you about the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, nor of the comparison the Lord Himself has made to those days and our own time. . In 1963, he married Patricia Terry. Twenty years later I would, on occasion, look out of the window of the President’s Home across the street from the Brimhall Building and picture there on the sidewalk two newlywed BYU students, down on their money and down even more on their confidence. Speech: The Language and Love of Leadership: Author: Speech: What Shall I Do Then With Jesus? Contents. As a boy he enjoyed sports (especially baseball) and played on every kind of team he could. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come.”. President and Sister Samuelson, we do love you. It is worse than Miniver Cheevy, and in some ways worse than Lot’s wife, because at least there he and she were only destroying themselves. He obtained master and doctor of philosophy degrees in American Studies from Yale University. I can’t tell you the number of couples I have counseled who, when they are deeply hurt or even just deeply stressed, reach farther and farther into the past to find yet a bigger brick to throw through the window “pain” of their marriage. John R.W. That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, “Yeah, I remember it. The following is the video and text from the address Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave during the 2016 BYU Campus Education Week devotional on August 16, 2016, in Provo, Utah. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. Let’s go home. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes about looking back and looking ahead. It is not Christian. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - BYU Speeches - 1988 Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments 12 January 1988 If some few of you are feeling the “scars . I was told once of a young man who for many years was more or less the brunt of every joke in his school. Office Hours and Location Is it charity? "With all else you have learned here, may you leave this great school secure in the promise of God’s unfailing love for you and the blessing of … You all look so good. overrideTextColor= It would appear that even before they were past the city limits, she was already missing what Sodom and Gomorrah had offered her. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Author: Speech "Come unto Me" Author: Speech "How Do I Love Thee?" See more ideas about quotes, inspirational quotes, byu. Speeches > Jeffrey R. Holland > “Remember Lot’s Wife”: Faith Is for the Future. BYU–Hawaii #1952 She grabbed me by the lapels and said, “We are not going back. overrideCardHideSection= He wanted to increase significantly BYU's academic vitality and accomplishments, while strengthening and emphasizing its unique religious nature. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will speak at a Brigham Young University devotional Tuesday, Jan. 13, at … Do you remember this?” Splat! That happens in marriages, too, and in other relationships we have. Hmmm. - Fri., 8 am - 5 pm I would see you sometimes as couples, sometimes as a group of friends, sometimes as just a lone student. On a spot that I could probably still mark for you today, I turned to Pat and said something like this: “Honey, should we give up? We had absolutely no money. When things got too sinful, or there was too much secularization in society, or life with the Gentiles was destroying the moral code and commandments God had given, the children of the covenant would be sent fleeing into the wilderness to reestablish Zion and start all over again. We’re thrilled to be with you on it, and we love you personally with all our hearts. Stott, God’s New Society: The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (1982) Echoing that thought, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught that “nothing worthwhile ever just happens." From 1980 until his call as a General Authority in 1989, Jeffrey R. Holland served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. This is an important matter to consider at the start of a new year—and every day ought to be the start of a new year and a new life. May 12, 2020 - Explore BYU Speeches's board "Inspiring Quotes", followed by 2302 people on Pinterest. Sister Holland walked in and said, “I think I’m going to cry.” You have to understand: Give yourselves 20 or 30 years—then you’ll know how we feel coming back here. September 21, 1976. Stuck in a spiritual rut? That is the thing Lot’s wife didn’t get—and neither did Laman and Lemuel and a host of others in the scriptures. The story of the prodigal son testifies that no matter how mild or how severe our sins, there is always a way back to light, peace, and eternal life. Laie, Hawaii 96762-1293, (808) 675-3457 Then our theme today comes in the next verse. A little hope in your inbox. Devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland on December 1st 1998, titled: "Christmas Comfort" Tags. General conference. You and we are very lucky to have them at the helm of this special school, and we praise them publicly for the time they spend, the success they are having, and the strength that they bring. The proviso, of course, is that repentance has to be sincere, but when it is and when honest effort is being made to progress, we are guilty of the greater sin if we keep remembering and recalling and rebashing someone with their earlier mistakes—and that “someone” might be ourselves. Through his participation in high school sports, he got to know a cheerleader named Patricia Terry. Above all, as many in the military do, he discovered the beauty and majesty of the Church and became very active and happy in it. Paul knows it is out there in the future, up ahead wherever heaven is taking us where we will win “the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”. Little by little this man’s Pauline effort to leave that which was behind and grasp the prize that God had laid before him was gradually diminished until he died about the way he had lived in his youth. Devotionals Menu. We had a small apartment just south of campus—the smallest we could find: two rooms and a half bath. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. Such dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! He eventually joined the army and had some successful experiences there in getting an education and generally stepping away from his past. At this point, let me pause and add a lesson that applies both in your own life and also in the lives of others. Our Father is waiting to greet us with open arms and with a robe, ring, and the fatted calf. As Elder Maxwell once said, such people know they should have their primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon (see Larry W. Gibbons, “Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts,” Ensign, November 2006, 102; also Neal A. Maxwell, A Wonderful Flood of Light [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990], 47). He has served on the governing boards of a number of civic and business related corporations and has received the “Distinguished Eagle Scout” award from the Boy Scouts of America. Our love for each other and our commitment to the gospel were strong, but most of all the other temporal things around us seemed particularly ominous. Looking for books by Jeffrey R. Holland? Forgive, and do that which is harder than to forgive: Forget. At the time of this call, Elder Holland was serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he had been called on April 1, 1989. But I do want to talk to you about the past and the future, not so much in terms of New Year’s commitments per se, but more with an eye toward any time of transition and change in your lives—and those moments come virtually every day of our lives. Elder Holland was born December 3, 1940, to Frank D. and Alice Bentley Holland. Classic BYU Speeches BYU Speeches Espiritualidades Ouvir em Apple Podcasts. It was “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Jeffrey R. Holland When Jeffrey R. Holland took the helm of BYU, he did so with two principal goals in mind. Stuck in a spiritual rut? For a variety of reasons, neither of our families was able to help finance our education. See all books authored by Jeffrey R. Holland, including For Times of Trouble, and Broken Things to Mend, and more on ThriftBooks.com. Later in his life he moved away from his community. Lorenzo Snow Administration Building Room 200 Will I be safe? BYU’s podcast ... A Robe, a Ring, and a Fatted Calf | Jeffrey R. Holland, Jan 1984. We are not going home. Yes! From 1980 to 1989, Holland was "first lady" of Brigham Young University (BYU) where her husband, Jeffrey R. Holland, was president. Yes! Elder Holland was active in professional educational activity prior to his call to full-time Church service. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 23, 1994. They dated for t… “The Third Great Commandment and Other Thoughts” Brigham Young University-Idaho Commencement. Life that day seemed so overwhelming, and the undergraduate plus graduate years that we still anticipated before us seemed monumental, nearly insurmountable. Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to go home? Jeffrey Roy Holland (1940-) served as President of Brigham Young University from 1980 to 1989. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= We actually know something about their jobs and what they entail. Is that faith? Such is the wonder of faith and repentance and the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "In this final canonized statement of the Liberty Jail experience, the … overrideCardHideByline= that have come to you in places where you ought not have gone,” I wish to extend to you the special peace and promise available through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal. In these cases of marriage and family and wards and apartments and neighborhoods, we can end up destroying so many, many others. Sister Holland and I were married about the time both of us were reading poems like that in BYU classrooms. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. ... Sign up for the BYU Speeches newsletter to receive monthly inspiration. At the time of this call, Elder Holland was serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he had been called on April 1, 1989. They are the parents of Matthew, Mary Alice, and David, the parents-in-law of Paige, Lee and Jeanne, and the grandparents of 13 beautiful grandchildren and one great grandchild. We were both working too many hours trying to stay afloat financially, but we had no other choice. I don’t recall that she quoted Paul, but there was certainly plenty in her voice that said she was committed to setting aside all that was past in order to “press toward the mark” and seize the prize of God that lay yet ahead. I remember one fall day—I think it was in the first semester after our marriage in 1963—we were walking together up the hill past the Maeser Building on the sidewalk that led between the President’s Home and the Brimhall Building. The start of a new year is the traditional time to take stock of our lives and see where we are going, measured against the backdrop of where we have been. To all such of every generation, I call out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Devotional or Speech given at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19:17; emphasis added). Believe that people can change and improve. He came full circle: again inactive and unhappy and the brunt of a new generation of jokes. Is that hope? Jeffrey R. Holland. To be tied to earlier mistakes—our own or other people’s—is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist. Dismiss the destructive and keep dismissing it until the beauty of the Atonement of Christ has revealed to you your bright future and the bright future of your family and your friends and your neighbors. Jeffrey R. Holland was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given on 13 January 2009. Will life be sound? I am told that the shortest verse—a verse that every missionary memorizes and holds ready in case he is called on spontaneously in a zone conference—is John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” Elders, here is a second option, another shortie that will dazzle your mission president in case you are called on two zone conferences in a row. (I give that remaining one just another week.) George Santayana, who should be more widely read than he is on a college campus, is best known for saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (Reason in Common Sense, vol. He inherited seemingly unending selflessness from his mother and his fathers Irish wit. And he died even more sadly than Miniver Cheevy, though as far as I know the story, through absolutely no fault of his own. He is a former Church commissioner of education and dean of the College of Religious Education at BYU. Future Students Current Students Employees Parents and Family Alumni Closed: Devotionals and Holidays, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can remember just enough to avoid repeating the mistake, but then put the rest of it all on the dung heap Paul spoke of to those Philippians. Send comments on this article to magazine@byu.edu. [Philippians 3:13–14], No Lot’s wife here. (Now, as a passing comment, I don’t know whether Lot’s wife, like Miniver, was a drinker, but if she was, she certainly ended up with plenty of salt for her pretzels.). That is a New Year’s resolution I ask you to keep, and I leave a blessing on you—every one of you—to be able to do so and to be happy, in the name of Him who makes it all possible, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. He served as president of the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities (AAPICU), on the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Presidents Commission. Too bad, too sad, that he was again to be surrounded by a whole batch of Lot’s wives, those who thought his past was more interesting than his future. University Communications records, UA 5395 Series 2 Sub-Series 1. In his 1982 BYU address “The Inconvenient Messiah,” Jeffrey R. Holland, then president of the university, warned against the dangers of subscribing to “convenient Christianity.”… Continue reading. Speeches. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. University Communications Zero. Apparently what was wrong with Lot’s wife was that she wasn’t just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back. What did He mean by such an enigmatic little phrase? Convocations. It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. And wasn’t it all just hilarious? 55-220 Kulanui Street Bldg 5 The Officers and Board of Trustees of BYU–Hawaii have extended their heartfelt vote of thanks and conveyed a much deserved letter of release to John and Susan Tanner for their remarkable years of service at the university... And true to the deliverance God always provides for his people, heaven has cast a divine shaft of light on John S.K. In effect, this has been Israel’s history down through the ages. Some of you were having thoughts such as these: Is there any future for me? It is possible that Lot’s wife looked back with resentment toward the Lord for what He was asking her to leave behind. Now, like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies of the Book of Mormon, bury your weapons of war, and leave them buried. Titled "Living after the Manner of Happiness". For the benefit of all BYU students in the new year of 2009, Robert Browning wrote: The last of life, for which the first was made: Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”. ... BYU–Idaho. Well, you know what happened. 1 of The Life of Reason [1905–1906]). He is the author of eight books, one of which he co-authored with his wife, Patricia. Let’s recall who Lot’s wife was. She was a counselor in the Young Women General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1984 to 1986. By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 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