J. Ty Hopkins, department chair of the Department of Exercise Science at BYU, spoke to the campus community about the values of endurance at the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
During his address, he used 2 Nephi 31:20 in the Book of Mormon to talk about enduring to the end.
“At that moment, I interpreted Nephi’s verse in this way: if we work really hard, press forward, grind it out, endure and get to the finish line, then we get a big prize — eternal life. My focus was the finish line, 100%,” he said.
Hopkins shared a story of how his idea of endurance evolved from this initial definition during his participation in the Tour Divide, a mountain bike race that follows the Continental Divide from Banff, Canada to the Mexico border 2,700 miles away.
“Lesson number one on endurance: endurance requires effort and work — hard work. There is no substitution. Endurance is not the process of passively waiting something out,” Hopkins said.
After learning that the Tour Divide terrain was proving more difficult than previously anticipated, Hopkins realized “the tough conditions created an incredible learning environment.”
“Instead of focusing on going through the finish tape with hands up, my focus became the ride — the process. Endurance is that process — the process of learning and growing during a sustained effort; the process of seeing good in hard circumstances; a process that leads to refinement and growth,” Hopkins said.
Throughout the devotional, Hopkins left BYU students with the following five lessons on endurance:
- Endurance requires work and effort which have multiple benefits.
- Endurance is learning — the process can help us find joy as we work toward the finish line. The process, not the product, should be our focus.
- We want hard things — enduring humbles us and draws us closer to God.
- Prayer and gratitude are extremely powerful forms of medicine.
- Write down your experiences to help focus on the good and learn from challenges.
Hopkins ended by saying endurance is a gift and was “intended to help us understand and realize the joy of learning and growing now on Earth."