President Smith; my beloved brothers and sisters—all our Father's children everywhere: These choice young people here, whose music we have heard, bring to mind all the unnumbered others who, worldwide, are looking for a way of life. If what follows shall reach their hearts and yours, it will be so because of your faith and prayers, and I pray that it may be so.

Making the most of life

There comes to mind a mother who was concerned with what her daughter was, or wasn't, doing with her talents and opportunities, and the mother one day shook her daughter impatiently and said: "I've given you life. Now you do something with it!"

We could conceive of the Father of us all saying about the same: "I've given you life. Now you do something with it! Now make the most of it! I've given you time, intelligence, the good earth and all it offers—now use it."

One of the most wasteful wastes in the world is the waste of time, of opportunity, of creative effort, with indifference to learning, indifference to work—the don't-care, drop-out, what's-the-use attitude. And one of the steadying factors in life—one that could reduce restlessness, protest, and discontent—would be for all of us to use in more useful ways the best of our abilities, with some awareness that the Father of us all might somehow, sometime shake us and say (which he has, in more ways than we sometimes seem to be aware of): "I have given you life. Now you make the most of it!"

The principle of work

When our Father sent our first parents out from Eden, he pronounced, as I read it, the principle of work: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."  Gen. 3:19 ". . . cursed is the ground for thy sake," he said.  Gen. 3:17

For thy sake. Work is a principle, a privilege, a blessing—not a curse—but an absolute essential, a physical and spiritual necessity.

Much restlessness and difficulty on the part of young people comes because they have often been overly insulated from challenging and meaningful assignments, with an overemphasis on leisure and on working less and less. Even if a person has all the wealth he wants, he still needs to work for the sake of his soul—and the same is true of those who have learned to live on very little. Work is a physical and spiritual necessity.

Anyone, young or old, would be restless if he didn't have a useful part in helping to bring good things about; a rewarding and meaningful work to do.

Economic facts of life

Some don't know where things come from as well as they once did. It's so easy to go to the shop or the market without being aware of the toil of plowing and planting, of making and producing, or what it takes to bring things about. Someone has to do everything—not only the easy and glamorous things, but every routine and tedious task. Someone has to do everything.

We need to give our young people the economic facts of life—as well as the moral and spiritual facts: what it means to produce; what it means to meet a payroll; what it means to provide for a family; what it means to save—what it means to stay solvent. I think those who provide productive, wholesome work for other people are in a way heroic. Thank God for them.

Now to touch a moment or two on some other subjects:

The laws of life

We have the laws of life. We have God-given standards, and we realize the results of the way we live life—and rationalizing won't change the outcome. Virtue is still virtue. Evil is still evil.

And I come to you today with a simple assertion that God does not deal in theories. "I know this world is ruled by Infinite Intelligence," said Thomas A. Edison. "It required Infinite Intelligence to create it and it requires Infinite Intelligence to keep it on its course . . . It is mathematical in its precision."

The seasons, the sunshine, the growing of seeds; heat and cold; the life of a child; the harvest we have—these are not theory, and the same authority that runs the universe on such precision also gave us commandments to keep, commandments that are still in force. And I wouldn't know anywhere to turn for a purposeful way to live life, except the way prescribed by the Administrator of heaven and earth. After all, whose little wisdom would we turn to? He has given us no commandment that is not necessary—and I witness to you that the spiritual and moral laws are as much in force as are the physical laws, and each person is going to be what he lives like.

Statement of William James

There is a statement from William James that President McKay occasionally used to quote: "Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's Play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, 'I won't count this time!' Well, he may not count it; and a kind heaven may not count it, but it is being counted nonetheless. Down among his nerve cells and fibres, the molecules are counting it, registering and scoring it up to be used against him." (The Laws of Habits.)

Since this is so, thank God for the principle of repentance—a principle he gave us because he knew we'd need it. But our repentance must be sincere and not the kind that keeps repeating the same foolish, stupid mistakes. We must move from weak or willful misdoing to an honest, resolute repentance, if we are to have the peace and happiness of life.

Better moral environment

Evil is raw, lewd, bold, and unabashed—and greedy—but there is no gain in this world's goods that is worth compromising the life or morals of one young person. We should never patronize evil in any degree, but should dedicate ourselves to create a clean and wholesome environment in our homes, our communities, our country. In many ways we can have a better moral and physical environment if we really want it—we can have in many ways what we are willing to uphold, to support, to pay for. But we can't do it in indifference. And each one will realize the results of what he does and thinks—the results of how he lives his life.

Advice to young people

And to you, beloved young people everywhere, to you who are searching for answers, you who have made mistakes, to you who have been mistaught or carelessly or adversely influenced: Don't let pride, or wrong habits, or appetites, or stubbornness get in the way of your realizing the highest possibilities of life.

Youth passes quickly. The waning years come sooner than you suppose, and then there comes the leaving of this life, and the everlasting future that follows.

Live so as to be at peace. Be clean, beloved young friends. Clean is one of the most wonderful of words. Be comfortable. No one will ever be comfortable without being clean. Life can be wholesome, with inner peace and solid hope as you live the law, keep the commandments, and humble yourselves before our Father.

Live so that you can face yourself, your Father in heaven, and all men everywhere.

Each one of you is precious, priceless. Each one of you is all he has. Life is all you have. Be kind, be virtuous. Respect and cherish parents. Make prayerful choices. Love and serve sincerely. Live in dignity and honesty and honor. Respect facts. Test them by the standards God has given. Live by the law, and the gospel of our Lord and Savior will lead you to peace and happiness and the highest possibilities of everlasting life.

Remember, O remember, my beloved young friends, that our Lord and Savior hasn't deceived us. He hasn't said that it was a broad way, an easy way, or that it could be reached by indifference or indulgence. He has said to us fairly and forthrightly: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life."  Matt. 7:13-14

There aren't any careless, easy shortcuts that go anywhere that anyone who knew what he was doing would really want to go.

Witness of God's work

I leave you my witness that God lives, and that this is his work, his church, his plan and purpose for his children, restored for all who will sincerely seek, and sincerely accept, and he will enter into your lives as fully as you let him. And to you—to all of us—to all his children everywhere, he is saying: "I have given you life. Now make the most of it!"

It takes a long time to make a beautiful world. It takes a long time to build a beautiful life, but the process of tearing down can quickly do much damage. O my beloved young friends, your Father in heaven doesn't deal in theory. What he has said is so. Trust him. Trust him who gave you life to tell you the truth. Whom else would you trust? Where else would you turn?

Need for respect and courage

Respect yourselves. Respect others. Respect life. Respect law. Be faithful. Be fair. Be productive. Live to be clean and comfortable. Life is all you have. O make the most of it in cleanliness, in honor and honesty. Don't run your life against the light.

"My message to you," said Thomas Edison, in his last public address—"My message to you is: Be courageous! I have lived a long time. I have seen history repeat itself again and again . . . Be as brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!"

God bless you, and peace be with you, this day—and always, I pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.