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This devotional address entitled,

Understandings of the Heart, was given on March 15th of 1988 by Robert D. Hales,

then the presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I'd like to talk today about the understandings of the heart and the learning process.

Each time I come to Brigham Young University, I realize that I'm standing before a Royal Army,

prepared to go out and be in the world and not of the world.

BYU is an exceptional university of learning because it was founded on the premise that

all subjects taught here would be taught with a special spirit of learning.

Yes, a special spirit of learning that would allow you to develop your gifts and your talents and prepare each of you

for the tests of life, enabling those who come here to be temporally and spiritually self-sufficient,

not just for their own goals and creature comforts, but to stand strong on higher ground, to

lift, to help, and to serve others. The purpose of life,

you are preparing to meet the tests of mortal life. We voluntarily came from the presence of God

the Father to this mortal probation with free agency, knowing we would have opposition in all things.

Our objective is to take upon us the whole armor and withstand the fiery darts of the adversary

with our sword of spirit and shield of faith, to endure to the end and be worthy to stand and live

in the presence of God, the Father, and Jesus Christ for

all eternity to achieve what is called eternal life.

What is our preparation for the tests of life?

Most of you are in your third decade of learning.

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