Welcome to the Recent Speeches Podcast presented by BYU Speaches, featuring inspiring new devotionals and forums given each week on BYU campus.

Be sure to check out our other podcasts by searching BYU Speaches wherever you get your podcasts, or by visitingspeches.bYU.edu slash podcasts. This devotional address entitled,

answering the dual calls for excellence and discipleship, was given on June 24th of 2025 by William

W. Clayton, then a professor and associate dean at BYU's J. Ruben Clark Law School.

Have you ever noticed that you have a heightened sense of your surroundings when you visit an unfamiliar place?

Think about your first time camping under the stars, your first night sleeping in a new home,

or your first time visiting a foreign country.

The colors are more vibrant, the sounds are more distinct, the contrasts are more clear.

This is a real effect.

When we see or experience something for the first time, it often has a more profound impact

on us than if we've experienced that thing many times before.

When I started teaching at BYU law school in 2018, this place was unfamiliar to me.

I had never been a student at BYU, and because I was experiencing it for the first time as a member of this community,

it was easy to appreciate just how special this place was.

I saw that I could teach differently here,

that I could blend spiritual and secular learning in ways that were not possible at other schools.

I saw that I could develop deeper and more transformative mentoring relationships with my students.

And I also saw that when I presented papers and sought to have an impact with my research

outside of BYU, there was something different and more meaningful when BYU was in my byline.

It didn't take me long to love being a BYU professor and to feel like I'd found a home here.

You might be surprised to learn that there was a time when I didn't feel entirely at home here.

In fact, I was literally on the opposing team,

...