“The first piece of advice is a cautionary one,” he said. “It comes from the man who rose in his time to become the most powerful layman in the entire British kingdom of his day, the masterful Thomas Wolsey, second only to the legendary Henry VIII himself in his influence over the king’s realm.” Elder Holland shared Wolsey’s story as a warning against “maneuvering the ladder of success so wantonly that you discover in the end you had it leaning against the wrong wall.”
Elder Holland’s second piece of advice: in a world with challenges and difficulties, troubles never need to be permanent nor fatal. “In the days and years ahead, you may suffer some discouragement and disappointment,” he said. “On occasion you may feel genuine despair, either for yourself or your children or the plight and conditions of others. You may even make a personal mistake or two — serious mistakes, perhaps, though I hope not — and you may worry that any chance to be happy and secure in life has eluded you forever. "When such times come, I ask you to remember this: This is a Church of happy endings. Troubles never need to be permanent nor fatal. Darkness always yields to light. The sun always rises. Faith, hope and charity will always triumph in the end. Furthermore, they will triumph all along the way."