BE A SHINING LIGHT

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Elder Richard G Sott's commencement address given at BYU this past April:

There is an urgent need for more men and women who will stand for principles against growing pressures to compromise.

Above all, we need mothers and fathers who will preserve the sanctity and safety of the home and the integrity of the family in which faith in God and obedience to His commandments are taught as the foundation of a productive life.

Truth is not determined by men; truth was determined by an Almighty God before the creation of this earth. Truth will exist unchanged forever.

You must have honesty, integrity, chastity, virtue, and a willingness to forego something attractive—even apparently desirable for the moment—to follow true principles.

And this great experience he had:

From 1953 to 1965, I served with Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, a very demanding individual. When I was called to be a mission president, he tried to dissuade me from going. When I said it was a prophet of God who had called me, he said, “If that’s the way Mormons are, I’m not going to have any of them working in my program.” I knew there were many families in Idaho depending on work in that program, and I was concerned about it.

As I prayed, a song came to my mind: “Do what is right; let the consequence follow” (“Do What Is Right,” Hymns, 1985, no. 237). I did that.

When Admiral Rickover knew I was going to leave on a mission, he had said he never wanted to see me again and never wanted to talk to me again. On the final day of my working with him, I asked for an appointment. The secretary gasped, expecting that there was going to be an explosion.

I went in, and he said, “Scott, sit down. What do you have? I’ve tried every way I can to change your decisions. What is it that you’ve got?”

I handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon and said, “Admiral, I believe in God. And I believe that when we do the best we can, He will help us.”

Then Admiral Rickover said something that I didn’t ever expect to hear. He said, “When you finish your mission, I want you to come back and work with me.”

“Do what is right; let the consequence follow.”