During the June 23 devotional, speaker, Martin McDonell (pictured right), Assistant Professor in the Social Work department, shared the three basic principles that "will help each of us 'do' something, to 'act', to enable us to achieve our righteous desire of eternal life with our Father in Heaven."
He introduced the first principle of prayer by asking his audience to think how often we pray. "We are usually taught, morning and night; twice a day with an average of 60 times a month." He went on to say, "Think of your cell phone plan. What if you could only text your friends or those who are important to you sixty times a month? You would say that it was a lousy plan." McDonell quoted Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he said, "Prayers can be offered even in silence, or you can think a prayer when words would interfere. We often kneel to pray. We may stand, or be seated. Physical position is less important than is spiritual submission to God." He then explained, "Improving prayers should be one of our deepest desires if we desire to spiritually grow."
McDonell introduced the second principle, keep the commandments, by sharing Mosiah 4:30, "but this much I can tell you...that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in faith even unto the ends of your lives, ye must perish. And now O, Man, remember, and perish not." He went on to share an experience when he was faced with the decision of switching wards because the driveway of his new house was in his old ward but the house itself was in a different ward. While talking to his dentist, Elder Hanemann of the Quorum of the Seventy, he was counseled, "Attend the ward where your house lies. You will bless the lives of those there." McDonell mentioned the importance of being honest and keeping even the smallest commandments that seemed trivial.
The final principle that he got from his daughters was, be nice to everyone. McDonell said, "Truman Madsen said that the church needs to be a safe place...BYU–Hawaii is an extension of church. We need to do everything we can to make BYU–Hawaii a safe place for all of God's children who come here."
McDonell concluded with these encouraging words, "If we stick to these simple primary actions...we too can live for eternity with our Father in Heaven and our righteous dreams will be fulfilled."
--Photo by Ian Nitta