President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, counseled students at Tuesday's Devotional, (Nov. 14, 2006) on three gates they must pass through to be successful in mortality.

This is the second visit to BYU by a member of the First Presidency in less than a month, as President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke at a devotional just over two week ago.

President Monson described the three gates that all must pass through to be successful in this life.

"Today I have chosen to discuss three gates which you alone can open," he said. "The gate of preparation, the gate of performance and gate number three - the gate of service."

President Monson began his remarks on the gate of preparation by saying it is necessary to prepare and plan because if we don't, we run the risk of frittering away our lives.

He advised students to prepare academically for life in today's economy, where change is almost guaranteed.

He also told students to study something they not only enjoy, but that will help them support a family.

"While this counsel would apply almost certainly to young men," he said. "It also has relevance to young women. There are situations in life which we cannot predict, which will require employable skills."

President Monson also offered some suggestions for academic success from his own experience in school.

"In academic preparation, I found it a good practice to read a text with the idea that I would be asked to explain that which the author wrote and its application to the subject it covered," he said. "Also, I tried to be attentive in any lecture in the classroom and to pretend that I would be called upon to present the same lecture to others."

Of the gate of performance, President Monson said all must open it for themselves just as with the gate of preparation.

"You must continue to refuse to compromise with expediency. You must maintain the courage to defy the consensus. You must continue to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong," President Monson said.

He said youth need more models to emulate, and he told students they could be those models.

"Your own personal performance in all aspects of your life, including reading the scriptures regularly and following their teachings, will help you to become such models," he said.

President Monson also told students when in the midst of their performances, to remember to rely upon the Lord.

"You, my brothers and sisters, have access to the lighthouse of the Lord," he said. "There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no mariner so lost, no gale so strong as to render useless the lighthouse of the Lord. It beckons through the storms of life. It seems to call, 'This way to safety; this way to home.'"

President Monson said of the gate of service, "As we go about our daily lives, we discover countless opportunities to follow the example of the Savior."

He told students to seek help from heaven to know how to serve others the best way and that serving others is one of the most rewarding aspects of our mortal lives.

"There is no feeling so gratifying nor knowledge so comforting as to know that our Father has answered the prayer of another through you," he said.

Just before he left the stage of the Marriott Center with a joyful wave towards the audience, President Monson concluded by saying, "I pray earnestly that each of us may open wide the three gates of which I have spoken ... and walk through them to our exaltation."

Copyright Brigham Young University 14 Nov 2006