If Michael McLennan had followed his original life plan, he believes he would already have graduated from college and started working as a software developer in his home country of Scotland. Instead, McLennan followed the promptings of the Lord and found even greater joy and purpose.
“I would shudder to see the alternate life I would have lived,” McLennan says. “What I have gained—what I’ve learned and how much I’ve grown—is so beyond what I thought was even possible in that other life.”
After beginning his education in computer science at a university in Scotland, McLennan served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United Kingdom, where he had the impression that he should attend BYU. At the time he didn’t know much about BYU, and he didn’t put much thought into the idea. “A few months later I got that impression again,” McLennan recalls, “and it was clear that He wasn’t asking—He was telling.”
So, McLennan spent his missionary preparation days writing essays for his BYU application and working through the paperwork for international students. When he returned from his mission, he transferred to BYU and continued his degree in computer science. But just before the first semester of his senior year, he received another impression that he was not meant to graduate in computer science.
McLennan was confused. “I had my plan: I wanted to get a PhD and then come back and do research at BYU, that was my dream,” he says. But he trusted the Lord and began thinking about what else he could study.
Using the results of a career aptitude test and the knowledge he still wanted to pursue multiple degrees, McLennan began exploring majors at the BYU Marriott School of Business. Nothing caught McLennan’s attention until a marketing professor invited students to talk to him if they were interested in a PhD. McLennan saw this as a sign and decided to study marketing.
In one of his first group projects in the program, McLennan received the feedback that he had room to improve. “I remember sitting on this little set of stairs behind the dumpsters and crying for about 30 minutes, because I realized my group was right, and I wasn’t doing my best,” McLennan admits. “I felt very out of place—it made me wonder if I was really cut out for this path, after coming all this way.”
As he sat on the stairs contemplating, McLennan remembered something Elder David A. Bednar, an apostle of the Church, once said: “There is no such thing as a coincidence in the work of the Lord.” The quote reminded McLennan that where he was and who he met were no coincidence. “I sat there on those stairs, and I decided that I would be cut out for it,” he says. “That decision gave me a great sense of resolve to then stand up and try my best.”
McLennan worked to better contribute to his group project and dedicated himself to doing better in the future. “I think a lot of students can experience that same feeling I had and ask, ‘Am I good enough? Will I be able to do this? Am I going to be able to meet these standards that I want to meet?’” Even though McLennan knows students may struggle to find their place, he believes that the Lord is aware of everyone. “I believe the Lord has connected people here; these connections are not mere coincidences. The Lord has guided their lives as he has mine—we’re all instruments in this grand symphony the Lord is trying to play. I’m happy to be sitting on the triangle playing my part when it comes up.”
He felt his part come up when a friend posted about an opening in BYU Marriott’s student leadership advisory council (SLAC). Later he ran into that same friend, who encouraged him to apply and told him that the application was due earlier than McLennan had thought. McLennan decided to apply to be SLAC copresident, and he got the job.
“What I would hope shines through in my time as copresident is my love for BYU Marriott students,” McLennan says. “Every now and again, when classes change and I see everybody walking up and down the stairs in the Tanner Building, I’ll get a little choked up just looking at them—I think they’re all so incredible. Being able to work on their behalf with the Deans Office and student organizations is really phenomenal.”
Working with BYU Marriott leaders, McLennan hopes to emphasize the college’s vision, mission, and values as he continues to follow promptings in his own life. He says, “I know if I can align myself with God’s will and go wherever He wants me to go, I can’t fail.”
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Written by Melissa Een
