Prophet Avoids Repetitive Nature

The whole university rushed to the Marriott Center Tuesday morning - some as early as 8 a.m. for the 11 a.m. devotional by the prophet. The heavily concentrated Mormon population would take any chance they get to listen to the most credible man on the Earth. They wanted to hear the message which the voice of the Lord was about to announce.

What interested me was that this man, who could choose any of the popularly spoken topics of the church such as the importance of scripture study, keeping an eternal perspective, and maintaining your testimony, chose to talk about prophets he had known in his lifetime. I assume that he understood we already knew these vital spiritual messages - they have been ingrained in our minds so that they may become second-nature. Undoubtedly, they are still important because they are always commented about in General Conference to the general Mormon public.

Yet President Monson takes into account that the students at BYU are strong members (hence their choice of BYU as their education for the next four years). He assumes that we are aware of scripture study, keeping eternal perspective and maintaining our testimony. Hence, President Monson appeals to the well-informed, orthodox Latter-Day Saints by teaching them unfamiliar topics. Who out of the audience would have been able to supply such specific details of the prophets' personalities and attributes before hand? I conclude that not very many. By including specific details, students develop a stronger faith in the men who have run the church in the past and who built up the principles we are learning about today. President Monson pointed out the credibility of these men so their messages may become more applicable. He took a step further than lecturing a repetitive spiritual message. Instead, he gave meaning to the origin of these spiritual lectures we always hear. Because of this, students establish a foundation for future spiritual talks and greater depth of their application to their lives.

Clearly emphasizing a learning atmosphere, Monson discusses the lives of prophets that he knew. We typically look at the prophets as the most righteous men, and we look at the messages they have delivered in the past. However, President Monson includes real details such as their favorite foods and funny things they had said. In this way, the prophets of his time truly became real to us as students of a separate generation. We become familiar with the kind of people they truly were. These prophets were no longer so distant - they didn't appear as powerful, influential prodigies but instead, friendly and real people.

For instance, President Kimball exemplified a prophet who portrayed an average human being. In preparation for a meeting, he proceeded to stuff papers in his refrigerator in order to get his room clean. By using such an example, we came to love prophets we did not personally know - they became "real" to us. He also described the humility of President Kimball. He would wear the same shoes, no matter how worn out they were or if they had holes in them. Before we had President Kimball as a prophet of God and after we discovered he was a humble man, who had trouble with cleaning.

Monson exemplifies an excellent sense of audience awareness because he surprised everyone with his discussion of the prophets. By doing this, we all walked out of the Marriott Center with more confidence of the leaders of a church, and a deeper love for the men who they really were. I feel that because President Monson avoided repetition of lessons we hear in General Conference, we were able to learn more about the men who truly impacted our religion on a more personal level. President Monson helped us build a foundation of understanding for the prophets that built the principles of the church.