This devotional address, entitled Illuminated Stories, was delivered on May 8th, 2018 by Robert T. Barrett, then professor of illustration in the BYU Department of Design.

Students and family members, administrators, faculty, and staff, I am greatly honored to be here today and appreciate the opportunity to address you.

Two weeks ago, Vicki and I were in Washington, DC, attending the Portrait Society of America conference with seven of my illustration students on an experiential learning trip.

Our students represented us so well.

Vicki and I were in Rome last year, which included a visit to the Vatican Museum and an opportunity to view the Sistine Chapel.

Speaking of the painting and its creator, Michelangelo, President Spencer W. Kimball stated in his Education for Eternity Vision of the Arts address fifty years ago, "His thirty-five hundred square foot painting in the Sistine Chapel is said to be the most important piece of mural painting of the modern world.

To be an artist," said President Kimball, "or a scientist or a mathematician could be added, means hard work and patience and long-suffering.