Three BYU–Hawaii students sang “I Stand All Amazed” as the opening for Stephen W. Owen, the Young Men General President, during his devotional on Tuesday, Nov. 5 in the Cannon Activities Center. He said centering to the Savior allows the body as a temple to have a good foundation.
The hymn, according to Owen, matched perfectly to his devotional topic. “Today’s young adults are tomorrow’s parents and youth leaders,” said Owen. He said not many know what the Young Men and Young Women’s programs are about. He said it is exclusively for youth 18 years old and below.
He pointed his finger to the audience, with seriousness, and said how this concerns young adults. He described how young adults are part of this new initiative President Nelson spoke about and new goals. Owen said wisdom is more than just getting a degree and finding a job.
“Ponder goals to increase in wisdom, not for your own career, but for also the Lord’s kingdom,” said Owen. He added education leads to self-reliance, and self-reliance allows for the opportunity to serve others.
“Your goal is to increase your stature,” said Owen. According to Owen, healthy living and spiritual growth and health are important. Taking care of the body is loving and treating it as a temple for the Spirit.
“Focusing on everything is equivalent to focusing on nothing,” said Owen. He mentioned balance should be everything like how the Savior lived.
According to Owen, priorities and balance is the goal. It means balancing individual needs. By interacting with others, Owen said we can understand God’s love for his children.
Alyssa Allen, a senior from Colorado majoring in humanities, said, “The house he displayed […] didn’t have a pillar for a job or career. And so, I was trying to decide if a job falls under intellectual or social category.
“[I’ve been thinking about] when he said we needed to look to the future about our contribution to God’s kingdom. My calling encourages me to think about what contribution I have given and what is still needed. Also, I am graduating soon and that makes you think of the future. We need to know what we are doing next, and we need to know what we are doing after school.”
Sara Sharp, a junior from Washington majoring in political science, said, “It doesn’t matter how unbalanced your life is. It will never be 100 percent balanced. If you have faith in God and use it as your foundation, then you cannot be knocked down easily. If you are knocked down, it is easier to build yourself on a firm foundation.”
Being a student can be challenging. However, the different parts students can focus on is balancing their lives and having a spiritual foundation, according to Owen.
Samson Sondi, a freshman from India majoring in computer science, said, “I like the analogy he used about spiritual, intellectual, social, and physical. It is important because it allows a happy life.
“Later he explained these four factors need to be balanced and be [enabled] in student’s lives about those four outcomes. Later he explained people in the university are more interested in social and others are also into spiritual. The most important thing is everything needs to be balanced."