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Graduation!

This last week Everett and Caroline graduated from BYU. Everett graduated in the Applied Math program and Caroline graduated in Social Studies Secondary Education. They're both very excited to be done with school!  Congratulations! At BYU, they received a top-quality, spiritually-enriching education at a very low cost and I am very appreciative.

Tulips in front of the Provo Temple this week





BYU commencement always has the best talks. President Worthen spoke on "propinquity" which is the state of being close to someone. After two years of Covid, he encouraged us to work on that. Elder Palmer spoke on a theme of "Focus, Center, and Re-center." Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llRCy_NVg18

FOCUS:  He talked about coming to Salt Lake City in August of 2020 from the continent of Africa where he was helping to lead the church. He sat next to President Nelson in the cafeteria for lunch. He told Pres. Nelson how intimidating it was to sit next to the prophet. President Nelson said, "Just eat your soup. You'll get over it." He later asked Pres. Nelson what personal advice he might have for the church members in Africa. President Nelson said, There are many things we can't control in our lives so focus on what you can control which is how you live your life. Live your life so you are always ready to meet your Maker.

Focus on responding with faith. Nelson Mandela had little control over his life, being in prison for 27 years. He focused on what he could control. He focused on reconciliation and truth instead of being bitter.


CENTER: Center your lives on Jesus Christ and his gospel. When you do that, nothing can go permanently wrong. When your life is centered on Jesus Christ, you are focusing on keeping covenants with Him and prioritizing the riches of eternity instead of the riches of the world.

He told about the time 12 years ago when his 24-year-old daughter, a student in the MBA program at BYU, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He realized he would give up any of his worldly possessions to heal her or even take her place himself. The surgeon said he couldn't get all of the tumor out so her future was uncertain. In the middle of the night after the surgery, Elder Palmer said he felt full of darkness. He wondered why she couldn't be healed after all the prayers in her behalf in addition to her own faith-filled life. As he prayed, he felt an answer. The answer was, no matter the outcome, he must go forward with faith in Jesus Christ. He needed to surrender his will to God's. His prayer started to become one of gratitude. There was a lot of uncertainty for a long time but she is still alive and has been able to get married and have children.

RE-CENTER:  


Just like we sometimes have to re-center when we are using a GPS map, we periodically need to evaluate where we are and re-center our lives on Jesus Christ.

He told us how, about 6 years after his graduation from the MBA program (which happened in 1982), his family had a reunion in Utah. He didn't realize that this was the last time he would see his father alive. Elder Palmer described himself as being on the fast track in his career. He was involved in real estate and really loved his job and spent a lot of time there. His father was worried about his priorities. He took Elder Palmer aside and counseled him to spend time with his children and his wife as well as serving diligently in his church callings. Elder Palmer thought at the time, Why is he telling me this? I already know this!

Later when his father died, he realized he had been part of a wonderful experience of receiving a father's counsel shortly before he died. 

It was a good talk.

Later that afternoon, I went to the convocation for Everett's college. Scott was also there dressed in his regalia to "hood" his Ph.D. student who finished last September. I had actually never seen Scott in all his ceremonial clothing because we didn't go back to Wisconsin for his Ph.D. graduation. So it was great to see both Everett and Scott. The college kept the front row of seats empty so that parents could come take pictures so I was able to get a few. And Caroline's family saved me a good seat so I could easily get there.




Everett the rebel was the only one with his gown unzipped:



And here's a unique car I saw while I was waiting to get out of the parking lot:


And some tulips in my backyard:




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