I normally don’t take the bus to BYU devotionals. By 10 AM most Tuesdays, I am already sitting on campus working on a research study or editing portions of my thesis after a morning class, but today was different. I had stayed up late the night before and didn’t wake up until I would normally leave for class. I decided to work on projects at home and head directly to the Marriott Center at 10:15 or so. Elder Deiter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was going to speak, and I didn’t want to miss it.

At 10:30, I was finally ready to leave my house, along with one of my roommates. He suggested taking the bus to the Marriott Center rather than walking the length of campus to get there on time. I agreed, and we hurried to the bus stop.

Our stop was along the southern edge of campus, close to the Provo City Library. As we traveled from stop to stop, dozens of riders joined us, all eagerly heading towards the Marriott Center. The conversations among friends were loud, as people compared notes about their finals, their homework, and their plans for the summer. By the time we got off the bus, what felt like a hundred other students all crowded the stop, quickly crossing the street before the lights changed.

When members of the Quorum of the Twelve speak at BYU, the Marriott Center almost always fills quickly, so I wasn’t expecting a good seat. I got there 10 minutes before the start and found a spot near the doors above the BYU Men’s Choir. Students around me tried to save seats for their friends while staff members pushed random students into the empty spots, trying to fill the room. At about 10:55, the staff members lifted the rear curtain away from the back of the stage, allowing additional students to sit behind the podium.

When Elder Uchtdorf walked in, the crowd immediately hushed, rising from their seats in a sign of respect. Sister and Elder Uchtdorf radiated happiness, as they often do, and waved to each side of the room, eliciting chuckles from the audience as they waved back. By the time the opening hymn had been sung, the entire room was filled with students eager to listen to an Apostle of the Lord.

He began his talk acknowledging the stresses of finals week at BYU and wished us all luck in studying for our finals. “You should all study very hard for your exams… as soon as this devotional is over.” That brought another round of light laughter from the audience. “While this week was important to the students”, he added, “there is another reason why this week is the most sacred weeks in the Christian calendar.”

“Nearly 2000 years ago, halfway across the world, other throngs of people had flocked to listen to the word of the Lord. When Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the streets were flooded with worshipers, celebrating the arrival of the Messiah. They came to see their Savior in action, to be taught and be freed from their physical bondage. However, He had come for a different purpose. His unexpected sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane and upon the Cross at Calvary were exactly what the world needed, though not what the people expected. Following the triumphal entry that clogged city streets, the people drifted away to their regular lives, leaving some to wonder: What was all the fuss about?”

Elder Uchtdorf shared this story with the students of BYU to remind them of Palm Sunday two days prior. The people in the Savior’s time did not truly understand His purpose, ultimately rejecting and crucifying Him. Their actions led to unimaginable sorrow, only to be followed by indescribable joy on the third day. Without sorrow, there can be no joy, just as the dark of night heralds the dawning of a bright new day. Without the grief and devastation of Calvary, there would be no joy and jubilation of the garden tomb.

Elder Uchtdorf challenged the students to see things the way that God sees them, from a higher and holier place. The sorrows that we faced in our daily lives were real and heartfelt, but they were not the end of the journey. The joys would come if we were willing to follow the Savior and trust in His plans for us. He called for the students to study their life decisions out in their minds and hearts before asking God for confirmation of their decisions (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8).

“Answers to your prayers will come,” he promised. “Perhaps not in your way, but certainly in His way.”

For me personally, my life has not followed my own plan. Years ago, I had developed a serious romantic relationship with a young woman I planned to marry. God’s plan, however, did not follow what I expected, but instead followed what I needed. Had I married this individual, I likely would not have continued with my education past my bachelor’s degree, and I never would have met many of the wonderful friends that I have now. His higher and holier way has allowed me to grow in ways that I was not expecting, to have new opportunities afforded to me, and the chance to become who He needs me to be.

Following the devotional, students flocked out of the Marriott Center to return to the stresses of their lives. One could ask the throngs this question: What was all the fuss about? Why did this students sacrifice an hour of their study time to travel to the north edge of campus, to then fight their way back to their classrooms before the next hour of classes began? The answer? They had come to learn more of the Savior, Jesus Christ. They had come to listen at the feet of an Apostle, a chosen messenger of the Savior. They had come to be spiritually fed.

These students had the same reaction as the multitudes did thousands of years ago. They fought through the crowds they had created, leaving their papers and books behind. It would be their future choices that could mark them as different from the people in Jerusalem years before. Rather than abandon the messages they had heard, these students had the chance to take the impressions from the word of God to better their lives, to be able to accept the Unexpected Messiah when He came again.