In the distance he saw a young person doing something near the water’s edge. There was an old man walking along the seashore. It has been adapted numerous times by numerous people from Loren Eiseley’s essay titled “The Star Thrower.” 5 Based on these adaptations, the story goes something like this: You may have heard of the starfish story. Thoughts must be consciously and carefully monitored and directed so that the acts, habits, and character that surely follow them are consistent with the commandments of God and lead to the destiny that is inherently ours. They will ultimately determine our character and our destiny. They can be small but immensely and intensely powerful. These little things we call thoughts accompany us throughout almost every moment of every day of our entire lives. Our destiny, as grandiose and incomprehensible as it is to fully understand, begins with the tiniest of individual thoughts. The scriptures teach us that the Lord Himself says that His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” 4Īs members of Christ’s restored Church, we should try to understand the actuality of eternal life and the reality of our personal destiny. Because of the very real covenants we make at baptism and in the temple, our destiny also includes living eternally with a spouse, children, and extended family. 3Īs members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our destiny is to live eternally with our Savior in the presence of our Heavenly Father. We are told in Proverbs 23:7 that “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Related to that is this old saying: Today I come to you hopefully a little wiser to share some counsel on something I have worked on ever since that day. In my mind’s eye I can see and hear the security officers as they would have looked at each other and said, “Yeah, right! Book ’em, Danno!” Can you imagine the look on the security officers’ faces as I tried to explain that I was concentrating so hard on never making another mistake that had I made a mistake? Now, as an aside, I am still grateful to this day to that young woman for not calling for security. I hadn’t even made it out of this very building before I had failed at my new commitment! There, standing in front of a large mirror, was a young woman brushing her long, black hair. It wasn’t until I had turned the corner that I realized where I was. I was concentrating so intently on my new commitment-to not make any mistakes-that I didn’t notice the cute little stick figure wearing a triangular dress on the restroom door. You can see the impossibility, and perhaps the silliness, of my well-intentioned commitment.Īs I was exiting the devotional, I paused to use the restroom. Now, I know all of you are a lot smarter than I was as a freshman. From this point on, I’m not even going to make any mistakes!”
I thought to myself, “I am going to follow his counsel to be a better follower of the prophets and to be more faithful in keeping the commandments of God. The Spirit was strong that day, and I was motivated by President Benson’s remarks. I listened carefully as President Ezra Taft Benson, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk titled “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet.” 2 He shared how we could more faithfully follow the living prophets and better keep the commandments of God. I promise to do my best to reward your time investment with something helpful to you now and throughout your life.Īccording to a very fun website 1 that I found, it was thirty-six years, one month, and ten days ago that, as a freshman student at BYU, I sat where you are sitting today. I know it is a busy time of year, with papers, projects, and finals pending. Thank you for participating in the devotional today.