James E. Hallstrom, bishop of the Kailua First Ward and a lifetime Oahu resident, addressed a capacity gathering of students and faculty at BYU–Hawaii’s weekly campus devotional on August 23, 2011. Brother Hallstrom attended BYU–Hawaii when it was Church College of Hawaii and opened his remarks by expressing gratitude for being able to speak in the McKay Auditorium because it was the same place where devotionals were given when he was attending Church College of Hawaii.
Hallstrom’s talk, “Personal Habits, Patterns and Becoming” began by discussing the nature of our personal habits. “We all have habits,” he said. “They take time to be developed and are difficult to change.” He gave examples of our everyday habits, such as the way we put on a coat, brush our teeth, daydream in church, pray, or read the scriptures. “Habits are enabling actions that become traits which identify us,” he described. “They either serve us or enslave us.”
Hallstrom discussed how we are able to get closer to God when we do things with the intent of being obedient. Where our habits are unconscious, patterns can be carried out as a conscious repetitive choice. They activate our agency. When we use our agency poorly, we form a pattern that distances us from God. It can invite or dismiss the Holy Ghost. Wise choices invite and build us spirituality. The change in us comes from the Atonement.
He then asked, “Are your personal behavior patterns becoming of an elect lady or a holder of the Lord’s priesthood? Will your current habits and life pattern facilitate becoming like Heavenly Father? If you stay exactly on the path you are on, and follow your current direction, what will be your final destination?”
The second part of Hallstrom’s talk was about patterns, describing them as “more than rote habits, [they] provide a deliberate blueprint for our lives.” Through further description, we learn that patterns “activate our gift of agency, and expand our ability to choose.” They are a means to a desired goal.
Hallstrom reminded us that we can get help through prayer. He suggests to imagine what the Savior’s prayers were like and as we set patterns, to envision a goal.
For his final point, Hallstrom discussed the “process of becoming.” He said, “In theory, it is never too late [to change]; but in truth, it is never too early.” He suggested we put off the natural man and have a mighty change of heart as Alma did, and reminded us that this gospel is one of repentance; we can change from within and our repentance will bring us that change of heart. We choose every day who we will serve.
In closing, Hallstrom shared his testimony and hope that as covenant individuals, “we understand and acknowledge that we have controlling habits, and that we need to exercise our sacred moral agency to change or enhance our current life patterns, so that we can become like our Father and inherit all that he has.”