BYU summer grads told to seek the Promised Land

PROVO — After sitting in the audience and watching four of his eight children graduate from college, 58-year-old Erick Wadsworth finally knows how it feels to wear a cap and gown on graduation day.

"I thought the opportunity to finish college was gone," Wadsworth said. "Then I saw an advertisement that said 'finish what you didn't finish' and started from there. You have a dream and then you work at it. This is awesome."

For Wadsworth, Aug. 12 will always be a significant day. Not only is it the day he graduated from BYU with a bachelor of general studies — a journey he began more than 41 years ago — it is also a day for his children and grandchildren to cheer him on. Aug. 12 is also the day he was married to his wife, Marilyn, 36 years ago.

"He has worked so hard and it hasn't been easy," Marilyn Wadsworth said. "I'm just so proud."

Wadsworth is one of Brigham Young University's 2,375 June and Aug. 2010 graduates. Commencement exercises were held in the Marriott Center on the BYU campus Thursday afternoon. Elder L. Whitney Clayton, of the Presidency of the Seventy for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave the graduation address.

Drawing from examples of journeys to the Promised Land from the Old Testament, Book of Mormon and the lives of early church members, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, of the Presidency of the Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke to graduates about the journey they will experience as they move toward their own personal promised land.

"You who graduate today stand on your own river bank or ocean shore, on the edge of your futures," he said. "You look off into the distant years before you, searching the horizon for your own promised land that flows with milk and honey. In a sense, we all do, every day."

Although the future can at times look like a land of promise without much promise, Elder Clayton told graduates to look to the future with hope.

"The promised land, your promised land, really is there," he said. "If you follow the admonition of the Lord you really will inhabit that rich land and harvest its blessings, milk, honey and all."

Elder Clayton spoke of five observations to remember while on the journey to the promised land:

The promised land today is a way of life, not a place like it was in the Old Testament times.

"Blessed in all things usually does not mean blessed with all things," he said. "(It) means we will have sufficient resources for our needs and even some of our desires. But more importantly, it means that as a result of our sincere striving and earnest efforts, we will be blessed."

The Promised Land usually isn't a place; it is found wherever an individual is at the moment.