He Is There, He Is Listening , Being Purpose Driven

Well, thank you for being here today. Thank you for inviting me.

My purpose in this talk is to inspire and to empower you to experiment with a different, peculiar path that will lead to a surprising outcome—and the ability to create a new world for yourself, right now.

This ability comes from an increased capacity and level of consciousness. To become a more effective student, you must embrace personal change, which requires learning and doing something new. This should increase your awareness and your abilities for the rest of your lifetime.

When you are successful in this endeavor, an amazing thing will happen: the change within you will help organize the world around you and cause it to change. Because this change will make you more like Christ, the world will become more like Zion.

Now, the mission of Ensign College is to develop capable, trusted disciples of Jesus Christ. This is the mission of the college. You're all familiar with that, aren't you? Isn’t it great? It’s noble. It’s wonderful that we have such a grand, ennobling mission. But my question is: Has it really made a difference in your life? Two or three weeks ago, I was talking with President Kusch, and he told me of the effort he went to in order to establish this mission—and then, in the succeeding years, how they worked hard to drill it down into the hearts of the students... into your hearts.

And that's the question: Has this helped you to be a better student? Are you a better disciple because of the mission of your school?

Elder Christofferson, a few years ago, was talking to a group of new mission leaders being trained, and he said this: "For some reason, it is very difficult to drive the mission down into the hearts of the missionaries."And I would say, it is hard to drive the mission down into the hearts of the students.

I like to talk with students, and I often ask them, "Why are you going to school?" And the answer is usually, "Well, to get an education." Well, I sometimes wonder if that is really true. Because, you know, we can come to school and just turn up to the lectures and still get a degree at the end. But does that really educate you? Or does it just teach you how to get by with minimal effort?

My life experience has taught me that to succeed—to really succeed—you need to have a real purpose for going to college.

For example, with a real, good purpose, you might say that you want to go to school to get educated so that you can go out and help others to get a purpose in life. Or you may want to help others get out of the poverty cycle. Perhaps your purpose could be to help others become more self-reliant. As you work on deciding your purpose, you will certainly want to correlate your thoughts with your patriarchal blessing. Take that into consideration as you plan your life purpose.

But let me ask you a couple of questions:

• What is your purpose in life?
• How can you help someone else find their purpose?
• And if you do, will it make a difference?

Let me tell you the story of the deaf boy.

My wife graduated from college as a teacher. She was trained to teach upper elementary students—about 10 or 11 years of age. On her first day, she was given a class of six-year-old children, not long out of kindergarten. Several of the children were from an orphanage, and they had learning difficulties and behavioral issues. On the second day, another 9-year-old student turned up to her class. He was profoundly deaf. He could not lip-read. He could not sign. He'd been kicked out of every deaf school because of his animalistic behaviors. He was just trouble.

By midmorning on that second day, my wife was in the principal's office, ready to resign. He promised her all this help and support and everything else if she would stay. Well… she stayed. But the help never eventuated.

Over time, this deaf boy’s behavior improved. He became better than the rest of the class in some fine motor skills. And by the end of the year, his parents implored the principal that Sister House graduate to the next class with their deaf son.

Her initial reaction on that day—when she was ready to quit—was from fear and self-preservation. But then… she reached out. She overcame her fear. She made a positive connection with the deaf boy—and with the other social misfits that were in the class. She achieved the impossible. She became the key to their door. She still remembers this deaf boy’s name and often wonders what’s become of him after 50 years.

You know, that is a profoundly important story. It’s a story of transformative learning. When you have a higher purpose, you celebrate what is right with the world, and you find the energy to fix what’s wrong. You learn to go outside your comfort zone.

Viktor Frankl was interred for three years in four prisoner-of-war concentration camps. He later wrote this:

"Man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes—within the limits of endowment and environment—he has made for himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine, while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions."

We can become swine—or saints. Both potentials are within us. What we become is determined by our decisions. Having a life purpose statement will lead you to better decisions. One of the best ways to find your purpose is by contemplating past joys and past challenges, comparing your efforts and your results with your patriarchal blessing and experimenting in the present, and continually pondering, clarifying, and rewriting your life purpose. As you discover your purpose, you will create a more productive present and a more generative future.

You know, it’s so easy to go through life being driven by circumstance. That sometimes leads to feelings of being a victim. At other times, we’re treated as "good luck" or "bad luck."

We’re often driven by other people’s agendas and become very reactive to what’s going on around us. We may follow a daily to-do list.

Think of Lehi. He talked about this concept of purpose towards the end of his life. It weighed heavily on him. He watched his family divided against itself. Four times in one chapter, he talked about taking action rather than being acted upon. He urged his family to become purpose-driven. Because God has given us agency, Lehi said we should be purpose-driven and not simply drift and allow circumstances to direct us.

Now, research has led scientists to conclude that people who are purpose-driven will probably live longer:

• They are less likely to have heart attacks.
• They suffer less from stress and anxiety.
• They are less likely to have high blood pressure.
• Their life will have more meaning.
• They’ll have more good cholesterol.
• They’ll have more friends.
• They'll have more encouragement and life satisfaction.

When you are purpose-driven, it enables you to see what is going on around you—for example, with your family and friends. It can help you determine not to fall into the same traps they’ve fallen into.

Well, one of the first steps toward becoming a trusted disciple of Christ is to become Purpose-Driven.A key element of being purpose-driven is to develop a life statement.

How do we do this?

1. Think of your most joyful experiences. Identify two or three.
2. Think of your most challenging experiences. Identify two or three of them.
3. Meditate over how you have coped with each of these joyful and challenging situations.
4. Compare this to your patriarchal blessing.

5. Make notes and then come up with your initial statement:

   "My purpose is..."

   Write it down.

6. Continually review your statement by considering past experiences, combined with the present.
7. Keep assessing and rewriting that life statement until it finally sticks.
8. And then rewrite it every time a new statement comes along—a new circumstance in your life.

Let me tell you a true story, related by a friend of ours. Their family had a daughter who was single. She got to the age where she thought there were no decent men left in the world and that she would never, never get married.

Well, she finally found a boyfriend, and their relationship blossomed—until one day, out of the blue, he dumped her. She was furious. She called her parents—you know what it’s like, right? She called her parents like many a frustrated daughter. She was determined to take it out on her parents. You know, when children are miserable, they want their parents to be miserable as well. She announced over the phone she was coming home. She lived in D.C.; her parents lived in Michigan. And knowing what was in store, the mother said to the father, "You pick her up at the airport. You go get her."

Well, the daughter got in the car. She didn’t say, "Hello, Dad," or "Thanks for coming to pick me up. Nice of you to put yourself out."

She just: "He’s a jerk! A total jerk!"

She went to the races for 15 minutes. When she finally stopped for a breath, her father said to her: "Are you problem-solving or are you purpose-finding?"

She just fumed! She was so mad. As they pulled into the driveway, she huffed, "What are you talking about? This is the real world!"He simply said, "This applies to the real world."He led her into his office, pulled out a file, and handed her a sheet titled “Life Statement.”

She read it and grew kind of quiet."You read this when you feel bad?"

"No. When I feel bad, I rewrite it. I’ve rewritten that hundreds of times."

She said she couldn’t even understand half of it. He replied,"Well, that’s because it was written for me—not for you."

Then the miracle happened. She disappeared into her room for a couple of days. And he said the miracle was that he didn’t have to put up with her ranting. She then came out of the room, caught the plane home, and went back to D.C.

A couple of days later, she called to say she’d written that boyfriend a letter. Much to the annoyance of her roommates, she became very vulnerable—told the boy how she felt. And then she explained to her father that she now knew who she was.

You see, once you identify your purpose—once you clarify and take ownership of your external focus of control—then you’re not driven to worry about what other people think about you. You become centered. You become powerful. And so did she. In the next few months, some interesting things happened. She got a promotion at work. She earned more money. She was the same girl. She wore the same clothes, drove the same car—but she was different. Why? Because when you find purpose and meaning in one area of your life, it affects every other area of your life. She went on to find another boyfriend. She’s now happily married and has a beautiful daughter.

So how does this apply to you?

When you have that meaning and that integrity, things will start to change. Research shows that when you give up your self-interested goals—when you stop being myopic—and you take on more contributive goals, then you become more valuable. You function differently. Chemistry changes, your thought process changes, and your learning accelerates. It has been said that we are designed to be purpose-driven and purpose-seeking.

Now, 50% of you are returned missionaries. You know how much better you served as a missionary when you were driven by your mission purpose. You’ve all had good experiences. You’ve all had bad experiences. Like it or not—they’re there to teach you something about you. Look carefully at them, and they will teach you your purpose. You can clarify the purpose of your life. You can become purpose driven. As you define your purpose, your life will take on new meaning. Your learning will accelerate. Your rate of learning will increase. You will attract like-minded people around you. You will become the focal point for similarly driven people.

Remember: when you draw closer to Christ, an amazing thing will happen: the change within you will compel the world around you to change. And because this change makes you more like Christ, you will become more like Zion—and so will the world. You can choose to walk this peculiar path. You can choose to lead—to get this surprising outcome in your life by creating a new world now.

You will then have taken the first step into the fundamental state of leadership. You can do this. I know you can do it. And I pray that you will.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.