Devotional speakerto focus on opportunities

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    MELISSA ROBERTSON

    Sally M. Todd, associate professor of counseling and special education, will speak on “Opportunities: Faith, Opposition and Friends,” at the Devotional in the de Jong Concert Hall today at 11 a.m.

    The idea for the Devotional came from a saying on Todd’s bulletin board, “You must take advantage of the opportunities of a lifetime in the lifetime of the opportunities,” Todd said. The saying was based on a statement by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, given in the fall of 1981.

    Todd said she feels people need to appreciate and take advantage of opportunities when they appear.

    “I hope students look at their education as an opportunity,” she said. She also said she hoped the faculty and staff would take advantage of the professional opportunities at BYU.

    Todd is president of Phi Kappa Phi, a national honor society whose theme is, “Pursuit of Excellence.”

    “This year the goal of Phi Kappa Phi is to encourage excellence,” she said. “We want to get the faculty, staff and students to focus on the pursuit of excellence.”

    To illustrate how sometimes people do not recognize opportunities, Todd told a favorite parable by Elder James E. Talmage, “the parable of the unwise bee.”

    In this story, Elder Talmage told about a bee which flew in the window of his office. When Elder Talmage was ready to leave, he tried to shoo the bee out of the open window, so it would not die. The bee refused to leave, and became more and more agitated as he continued to try to push it out the window. It finally stung Elder Talmage and retreated to a light cord where he could not reach it. Elder Talmage left for the night, and when he returned, the bee was dead.

    “How often do people try to help us and we misunderstand,” Todd said.

    Todd is the faculty coordinator of the Gifted Endorsement and Special Education Master’s Program and a co-chair of the BYU Public School Partnership Gifted/Talented Task force.

    She is also an adviser to the Utah Association for Gifted Children; she is on the board of directors for the National Association for Gifted Children; and she is a delegate to the World Council on Gifted Children. She is a co-author of the book, “You and the Gifted Child.”

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