Center life on the Savior, Sister Browning tells BYUIdaho grads Church News -

Every living thing in the home of Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency, has a name.

This doesn’t mean just her husband, children and pets. This also refers to her plants, which she can’t always identify by species but which she regards as friends nonetheless. Sister Browning said she takes special care each week to water her plants, position them for optimal sunlight and provide them with additional nutrients to help them thrive.

Similarly, each person’s spiritual survival depends upon a regular application of nourishment received from divine sources, she said, including prayer, scripture study and temple worship.

“Adherence to these practices will set you apart from the world and will give you experiences through which the power of God will be demonstrated in your life,” she said.

Sister Browning taught these and other principles during her commencement address at Brigham Young University–Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, on Thursday, April 11.

Other speakers included Brother R. Kelly Haws, secretary to the BYU–Idaho Board of Trustees; and BYU–Idaho President Alvin F. Meredith III, a General Authority Seventy, who said students came to this campus to learn and will now go forth to serve.

“As you go forward, I hope you have a vision of the good you can accomplish by being a light,” President Meredith said.

A total of 2,815 students graduated on April 11, according to a news release from BYU–Idaho. Of those graduates, 1,652 were women and 1,163 were men. The school awarded 2,101 bachelor’s degrees and 800 associate degrees.

Additionally, of this semester’s graduates, 1,644 were campus-based students, 1,171 were online-based students and 1,280 started their education as BYU–Pathway Worldwide students.

Building on ‘our Savior’s bedrock’

President Meredith encouraged graduates to be peacemakers and to “think celestial,” as President Russell M. Nelson has advised. President Meredith said that while there’s much good in the world, there’s also much contention, and society needs leaders with the skill and wisdom to create unity.

“While at BYU–Idaho, your light as a disciple of Jesus Christ has become brighter,” he said. “You now venture beyond this special place with a duty to build, lift and inspire those around you. ... You can go forward with the assurance that the Lord will be with you, for He is the Light of the World.”

Sister Browning echoed this promise in her remarks, saying that the academic and spiritual knowledge acquired at BYU–Idaho is designed to inspire “the next hopeful dawn” of each graduate’s leadership in their homes, communities, places of employment and Church service.

She also testified that as graduates center their lives on Jesus Christ, His “sure foundation” will support them through whatever forceful, gusty winds arise. At times, they might feel unprepared and unqualified for their trials; but Sister Browning said who the Savior knows each person to be and what each individual has the potential to become is greater than anyone’s vision for themselves.

She recalled a time when, as a young mother, she discovered that she was out of baby formula as her infant daughter screamed hungrily. Exhausted and overwhelmed, she bundled her wailing daughter into the car and began driving to the grocery store — only to be pulled over by a police officer for speeding.

But when the officer approached Sister Browning’s window and heard her baby crying, he was immediately sympathetic, she said. Rather than admonishing her or writing a ticket, he told her that he understood, she’d be OK and to drive safely. His kindness moved her to tears, Sister Browning said.

“That anonymous officer, with his simple message, became a much-needed reminder from an all-knowing Heavenly Father and a loving Savior. ... They knew I needed gentleness and validation that this life I was building was secure on our Savior’s bedrock, that God’s power would remain with me and be a source of strength in all my experiences as I kept my priesthood covenants and steadfastly looked to Him,” she said.

From this experience, she learned that even challenges can become another testament of an individual’s discipleship. The Book of Mormon, too, “boldly proclaims” that every trial can work together for good.

“I testify that Jesus Christ can write a better story for our lives than any one we can author for ourselves,” Sister Browning told the graduates. “And today, as you turn to this clear sheet in your book of life, having been prepared to be His disciple, give Him the pen and let Him write upon it. I testify that He will inscribe a plan for your happiness and a path for your eternal life and exaltation.”