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Devotionals

Come, and Move to Higher Ground

Aloha, it was a beautiful spring morning thirty-six years ago today, on June 5th, 1976. My family then lived in one of the secluded valleys of the Rocky Mountains, about 230 miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah, where BYU-Idaho is now located. The grass had recently started to turn green from its winter dormancy. The tree leaves and blossoms were in full bloom.  Not quite like here in Hawaii, but it was very beautiful nonetheless! As a nation, we were getting ready to celebrate our 200th birthday about one month later.

My wife and I were in the Idaho Falls Temple that Saturday morning, to witness the marriage of a wonderful young woman and her husband, sealed for time and for all eternity by one holding this special authority from our Heavenly Father.

As we left the sealing room in the Lord’s House, we were visiting together in the foyer of the Temple for a few minutes when we learned from the matron of the Temple, in a whispered voice, that the Teton Dam had just broken.

We knew that the Dam was located about 40 miles to the northeast of where the Temple was located.  My wife and I immediately thought of our three young sons who were at our home in Rexburg with a baby sitter. We knew that our home was only about 12-15 miles from the dam. Can you imagine how we felt when we learned that the dam had broken and that our home might be in the path of the flood?

As a faculty member teaching engineering at Ricks College, I had taken my engineering students to see the new dam during its construction a number of times.  I knew that the dam was being filled for the first time that spring. With the heavy spring run-off that year, it was being filled faster than had been anticipated.  The 350 foot high dam had some leaks in it as it was being filled, but this was not considered too unusual for an earth filled dam. It was anticipated that the leaks would plug themselves over time. Instead, the leaks got worse, and on June the 5th the dam failed completely and more than 200,000 acre-feet of water broke loose inundating homes, farms, businesses, and changing the lives of more than 50,000 people residing below the dam.1

I don’t know if you can imagine what 200,000 acre feet of water is like, but it is a tremendous amount of water—especially when it is moving to destroy everything in its path! Here in Hawaii you have lots of water all around you; water in the oceans that surround these beautiful islands, water in the form of rain and humidity in the air, all of which enable your beautiful plant life to exist. Unlike most of the islands of the Pacific, however, water is scarce in the high desert valleys of the Rocky Mountains.  Dams have been built to capture the melted snow’s run-off, so that life-giving water can be stored for irrigation purposes.

As an engineer, I probably ought to try to explain just how much water two hundred thousand acre-feet, really is. Try and think of it this way. Two hundred thousand acre feet of water would be a column of water fully covering an American football field—about 29 miles high! It is a tremendous amount of water! By the time all of that water reached the Rexburg bench where we lived—just a few miles below the dam—that wall of water had spread out to be about ten feet high and seven miles wide, destroying everything in its path!

As we attempted our return home from the Idaho Falls Temple, we learned that the main roads had been closed. We finally found our way home by taking the dry farm roads above Rexburg. Anxiously, we listened to a Rexburg radio station broadcasting minute-by-minute updates of the flood’s movement as we drove in our car. Suddenly all was silent; we knew then that the radio tower was gone. From that time on we could only imagine what was transpiring in the valley below.

Gratefully, we finally arrived at our home. The scene that met our eyes is forever stamped upon our memory. We arrived just in time to see this wall of water—with a cloud of debris in front of it, pass by within just a few blocks of our home. We also observed that nearly the whole population of the Snake River Valley had moved—with anything that had wheels or could move—to higher ground—on the Rexburg Bench, near our home.  These wonderful people were obedient to the warnings that were given and sought quickly to move to higher ground!

I am very grateful for the invitation of President Wheelwright to speak to you today. Since that invitation, I have earnestly prayed for help from our Heavenly Father to know what I might say that would be of help to you today.  When I realized that this day, June the 5th, would be the 36th anniversary of the breakage of the Teton Dam, it seemed fitting that I might visit with you about the challenge each of us faces in our lives, to always seek to move to “higher ground” in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what does it mean to move to higher ground, spiritually? I don’t know if you will see a literal flood of water from a tsunami, or a dam breaking one day as we saw in Idaho, but I do know that all of us see a flood of sin and temptation all around us. I believe that these challenges—this opposition—that comes to us in our daily lives is actually one of the important evidences that our Heavenly Father really does love us. For without this opposition, we would not have the opportunity to choose between good and evil and in the process, to grow and to learn to become more like Him if we choose the right.  We have each been blessed with the gift of agency. Because of this precious gift we can choose to move to higher ground, or not, as we face the challenges of life.

The Lord has told us that there must be opposition in all things.2 Above all else, our Heavenly Father loves us and knows us individually, and He is providing this earth life as an  individual  opportunity for us to learn to become more like Him. If we can learn to trust Him, as a little child would trust a loving father, we can begin to see better that His whole work and glory is to help us learn and grow to become and be as he is.  

May I share with you today four ways in which I have felt impressed to invite all of us to move to “higher ground” in our own personal lives?

  1. Learning to seek for, and be obedient to, the commandments of God
  2. Taking the Holy Spirit to be our guide
  3. Always remembering our Savior Jesus Christ
  4. Learning to forget ourselves and serve others

Learning to seek for, and be obedient to, the commandments of God

First, moving to higher ground in the gospel of Jesus Christ means that we have  chosen to learn of, and be obedient to, the commandments of God.

Moving to higher ground means that we  school our  desires to learn of our Heavenly Father’s commandments and live them—to be  obedient to these commandments. President Ezra Taft Benson is quoted as saying: “When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.”3

Our Savior Jesus Christ, exemplified these attributes with his unselfish life. He wanted to be good and to only do His Father’s will. Do we have enough faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us to do the same? Faith in Jesus Christ is a choice—a righteous use of our God given agency—as we learn of our Heavenly Father’s commandments.

Could I share a story with you? It’s a story about a friend of mine whose home was in the direct path of the Teton Dam flood.  I have shared this story before.

My friend’s name was Marion Forsyth. I share this story with you to illustrate just how a man can move to higher ground and come to love God and yield his heart to Him. This was a man that learned to give his agency, so to speak, to our Heavenly Father. He trusted that if he could learn of what God’s will was—and do it, he and his family would be blessed. 

Sometime before the Teton Dam broke, President Spencer W. Kimball, who was then the President of the Church, invited all of the members of the Church in a General Conference talk, to fix up their homes, yards, barns, and to take care of all that the Lord had provided for them.

 As a prophet of God he explained that those who were not members of the Church would judge the truthfulness of the gospel and the Church by how well we took care of what we had been given.4 I believe that this is still very good council for us today. We can measure our faith and our obedience now—right at this moment—by asking some questions of ourselves. How well am I taking care of what I have been given by my Heavenly Father? Did I make my bed this morning? Have I cleaned my apartment lately? Have I been thoughtful and kind to others? Have I exercised my body and eaten appropriate food thus far today? Have I earnestly prayed and consciously used my agency to control my thoughts and properly feed my spirit today?

My friend, Marion Forsyth had chosen to use his agency to be obedient to the living prophet of God. He had a forty-acre farm and, if I remember right, about forty milk cows. Knowing Marion and his wife, they had cows not to make any money, but to help them raise their seven children—to teach them responsibility and how to work. All of us do better in moving to higher ground when we have a responsibility and meaningful work to do.                  

Just a short time before the Teton Dam broke, my friend was out in his front yard on a Saturday morning to paint his fence and plant petunias with his wife. He had painted his barn the week before. One of his neighbors pulled up in front of his home. The neighbor lowered his vehicle’s window and asked my friend what he was doing painting his fence and planting those flowers. My friend Marion kindly responded that President Kimball had asked members of the Church to fix up their homes and their yards. He said he wanted to be obedient to the counsel of the prophet.

My friend’s neighbor chided him a bit, saying, “Painting your barn and fence and now planting those flowers—that’s not going to increase your milk production.” My friend Marion simply said something like: “You are probably right, but President Kimball has asked us to do it and I  want to do it.”

Within two weeks, the Teton Dam broke and all that water came down the Snake River Valley destroying virtually everything in its path. All of my friend’s milk cows were swept away. His barn was severely damaged. His house was mostly destroyed. The fence in front of his home—the one he had been painting just a short time before—was gone, not to mention the petunias.

A few days after the flood, my friend saw his neighbor again—you remember, the one who chided him a bit for fixing up his place. Only this time his neighbor said, “Aren’t you sorry  now Marion, [with a certain spin on the word  now] that you took that time to paint your barn, fix your fences, and plant those flowers?” My friend Marion hesitated for just a moment and then simply said, “No, they were ready to be taken.”

My wonderful Brothers and Sisters, each of us has been given windows of time in the days of our lives—our probation—to see if we will  seek out and do what our Heavenly Father has asked us to do—to move to higher ground. These windows of time are really windows of  opportunity. Our Heavenly Father really does know what is best for us. One day that window of time will close and we will become what we have chosen to become. This will be determined by how well we have chosen to use our agency to learn of His will and to do it. Have we sought out His will and been obedient?  Will  we  be ready to be taken when our time comes? 

Are you seeking to move to higher ground in your actions, your words, the way you treat others, in your honesty and integrity, your thoughts and above all, in your heart? Our Savior, Jesus Christ will help you change your heart if you really want it to change.  Satan’s biggest lie—often whispered in our ear—is that we can’t change; you are as you are and you will never be any different. 

I bear testimony that the enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is available to you, and to all of our Heavenly Father’s children, if you will but yield your heart to God; yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. But you  must humble yourself and choose to do this. 

My friend Marion Forsyth had learned to use his moral agency to be obedient to a prophet of God, and by his obedience he was preparing— himself—to be taken, not just his barn and his home—but preparing  himself to stand in front of our Heavenly Father with a character different than that of a natural man.5 This too is your opportunity and mine brothers and sisters.

Moving to higher ground means that we have consciously decided that we will choose to do what is right and to be good, and that we have chosen to give away all of our sins to know God, just as King Lamoni’s father did as recorded in the Book of Mormon.6

In the 2nd chapter of 2nd Nephi we learn that our Heavenly Father has created all things, both things to act and things to be acted upon. Listen to these words of God.  “And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.” We as children of our Heavenly Father have been created to act, and if we choose to learn of God’s will and do it, we will become like Him.

My dear Brothers and Sisters, each of us have been given our agency by a loving Heavenly Father, with needed opposition, so that we can choose what we will become.

Taking the Holy Spirit to be your Guide

Number 2. Another way to yet move to even higher ground, beyond seeking out and keeping the commandments of God, is to take the Holy Spirit to be our guide. I challenge you to move to even higher ground as you seek after impressions from the Holy Ghost and act upon them.   

The Lord said,  “For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.”7  

One of the best ways I know of to nurture the precious gift of The Holy Ghost is to read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon.  The prophet Joseph Smith said:  “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct book on earth and the keystone of our religion and that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book”.8

Feelings from the Holy Ghost will help us discern the difference between good and evil, if we pay attention to them. If you will learn to seek after these feelings, trust in them, and act upon them, I promise you that you will be given even more of these feelings and impressions.  In the process of doing this, you will become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.9 I know that we will be rewarded according to the spirit, which we, “list to obey”.10 

You must expect opposition as you seek to learn to take the Holy Spirit as your guide. One of the greatest sources of this opposition is “our natural man.” The Holy Ghost is very sensitive and will not accompany us if we follow paths contrary to the ways of God. If you are involved in pornography or other behavior that is not in keeping with the commandments of God you are choosing to use your agency to drive the Holy Spirit away from you. The Holy Ghost is a gift that we as members of the Church have been given. But it is a gift we must learn to “unwrap.” It is the Holy Ghost who is our greatest teacher as we use our agency to decide how we will live our lives. The Holy Ghost Himself will teach us how to “unwrap” this gift, line upon line, precept upon precept.  His influence actually changes our natures and helps us put off the “natural man” and to put on the “divine nature.”11I know that the Holy Ghost honors this kind of hard work on our part!

Remember that, as President Henry B. Eyring has said: “The purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to change you so that you’re not trying to resist change. You’re trying to have change take you where the Lord wants you to go.”12

Always Remember our Savior, Jesus Christ

A third way you can further move to higher ground, is to always remember our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we renew and keep our baptismal covenants each time we take the sacrament, we are promised that we will always have His spirit to be with us. Surely when we have His spirit to be with us we are on higher ground.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught us three aspects of what it means to always remember Him: ”First, seeking to know and follow His will; second, recognizing and accepting our obligation to answer to Christ for every thought, word, and action; and third, living with faith and confidence in the realization that we can always look to the Savior for the help we need.”13

I would like to share with you some thoughts about the third of Elder Christofferson’s three points—“living with faith and confidence in the realization that we can always look to the Savior for the help we need”.

One of the great verses of the Book of Mormon is found in Alma 33:15-16. Let me read it to you. It teaches us that we must seek to learn to understand the mercy of the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This means that we should seek to understand better what our Savior, Jesus Christ, has done for us and accept this blessing as it was intended, for our lives.  

“For it is not written that Zenos alone spake of these things, but Zenock also spake of these things—For behold, he said: Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son.”14

I plead with you my brothers and sisters to seek to understand this wonderful and merciful gift, from our Savior Jesus Christ. This marvelous gift enables us to learn from our mistakes, and yet not be condemned by them. This can happen only, as we are obedient to the principles and ordinances of the gospel and learn to repent. Our Savior has already paid the infinite price of our ‘tuition’ to have this learning experience, but it is up to us to do our homework—repentance, and  seeking to learn to be better in our own lives. I believe that repentance is just another word for learning. Learning can be hard—you as students know that! But, learning is why we are here on this earth. Do we have enough faith in Him and what He has done for us that we will take proper advantage of this opportunity? Are we willing to use our agency and our faith to choose this path of growth and learning, and move to higher ground in the process?

I have come to know for myself that when I can be grateful for someone or some thing, I have always felt impressions from the Holy Ghost. Can I invite you to cultivate a sense of gratitude for what our Savior has done for you? To enable this to take effect in your life you will need to move to higher ground by learning of Him, his life, his teachings and his doctrine—His Sacrifice. One of the best places to learn of Him—and to have the Holy Ghost teach you of Him and what He has done for you—is to serve and worship in the Temple. Everything in the Temple is symbolic of Him. For me, the Temple is the graduate school of learning about our Savior. Temples lift us to higher ground! No matter what the challenges you face in your life—and I know they can seem at times so overwhelming—you will find no greater friend or ally than our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I bear testimony that He lives and that He has performed an infinite atonement for you and for me. No matter what you may have done, you can repent and be forgiven! I know this to be true! I love Him and I am grateful for all He has done for me.15

Learning to Forget Yourself and Serve Others

The forth way to move to higher ground, one of the most important ways to learn to become like God, is to learn to forget yourself and serve others. Just as thousands and thousands of Latter-day Saints came to help the flood victims of the broken Teton Dam, you too can also move to higher ground by seeking to be of service to others.

Can I invite you to move to higher ground by looking for little ways to be kind to others? Smile as you walk across campus. How about surprising your roommate by making their bed in the morning. Take out the trash when it’s not your turn. Be a loving home or visiting teacher. Serve in the Temple. Lift and build others. Forget yourself and seek to serve others. As you learn to do this, you will find that you are becoming more, and more, like our Heavenly Father and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Have you wondered why marriage and families are central to our Heavenly Father’s eternal plan of happiness?  One of the reasons is that marriage and parenthood provide the best opportunity—in this life and in eternity—to learn unselfishness.

President Marion G. Romney said many years ago: “ Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made. Knowing that service is what gives our Father in Heaven fulfillment, and knowing that we want to be where He is and as He is, why must we be commanded to serve one another? .... Service is what Godhood is all about”16 .

No matter what your stage of life, whether single or married, living the principles and covenants of the gospel with a sincere desire to love and serve others, can enable us to become more like our Heavenly Father and move to higher ground.  This marvelous blessing of becoming like our Heavenly Father, again, is only possible because of the infinite atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the short time my wife and I have been here, we have come to love you.  You are so precious to our Heavenly Father! I sense you are trying to do good—and to be good! I know that our Heavenly Father loves you and that he will help you as you seek to move forward—and up—to higher ground with your faith in Jesus Christ.

May our Heavenly Father bless all of us to desire to move to higher ground as we:

  1. Learn to seek out, and be obedient to, the commandments of God
  2. Take the Holy Spirit to be our guide
  3. Always remember our Savior Jesus Christ, and  
  4. Learn to forget ourselves and serve others

Listen to these words from a prophet of God, President Howard W. Hunter.  “At the end of your lives you will not be judged by academic successes, the degrees or diplomas earned, the positions held, the material wealth acquired, or power and prestige, but rather on the basis of what you have become as persons and what you are in conduct and character.  Yours is the power individually to transform yourselves into the person you want to be".17

I have been blessed with a sure witness through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives! I know that this is His Church and that it has been restored to this earth in these latter-days in preparation for His second coming. I know that President Thomas Spencer Monson is a living prophet, seer and revelator of God. I know that God loves you more than you can imagine!

Because of that love, I know that our Heavenly Father is interested in helping you and me—all of His children—to grow and to learn, and that the enabling power of the atonement is available to lift all of us to higher ground if we will put our trust and faith in Him, seek to learn of His will, follow the impressions that come to us from the Holy Ghost, and use our agency to act on them and do what is right! I know that you can do this! I have great faith in you—and in Him!

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


That Day in June,   Reflections on the Teton Dam Disaster, Edited by Janet Thomas, Bernice McCowan, Mary Tingey and Margaret Thomas, Published by Ricks College Press, Rexburg, Idaho, 1977

2 Nephi 2:14-16

3 Attributed to President Ezra Taft Benson by Elder Donald L. Staheli, The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Volume 28, May 1998, p.82

4 “Why Call Me Lord, Lord, and Do Not the Things Which I Say?”, President Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign: The Ensign of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, May 1975. 

5 Mosiah 3:19

6 Alma 22:18

7D&C 45:57

8 Book of Mormon, Introduction, paragraph 6

9 Moroni 7:13-19

10 Alma 3:26-27; Mosiah 2:32,37

11 Mosiah 3:19

12 “A Steady Upward Course”, Elder Henry B. Eyring, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Devotional, September 18, 2001

13 “Always Remember Him”, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Religious Educator, Vol. 11 No. 2, 2010

14 Alma 33:15-16

15 Alma 7:11-12

16 President Marion D. Romney, Ensign, Nov. 1982, p. 93

17 The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, p. 177.