I love to be with you on a college campus this morning. It’s all I can do not to buy a new notebook, a big thick text book, and beg for a spot in a class!
Yes, I really love picking up that new book—or scrolling through the online readings at the beginning of the semester. They’re always chocked full of unfamiliar terms, concepts and information. Things I don’t know… yet. Because, –and here is the good part– I know that at the end of the course– just 13 or 14 weeks away, it will all make sense. I’ll be able to write about, talk about, and be tested on all of those facts and ideas. And better yet, my brain will have found ways for me to integrate those new ideas into things you already know and you become a different person. Enjoy your time here and enjoy learning. And when we’re out of the classroom it isn’t over. Mortal life provides us with endless opportunities to think, learn, and grow.
I’d like to talk with you about thinking of some ways that will serve you well all of your life. The first invitation I’d like to offer is to Think Big. What do I mean by that? All of us have lives filled with minutiae. It’s a confinement of sorts—the endless tasks that fill our time. I have them. You have them. But they don’t need to consume our heads. We can attach the details of our lives to Big Ideas and elevate the way we think and live.
What’s a Big Idea? Well, it’s an enduring understanding that has a large context and multiple meanings—something that will be relevant to you five years from now—that you’ll revisit from dozens of different contexts over the years. It’s a fundamental principle on which hang many, many ideas.
Let me give you an example. I had lunch last week with three old friends. The conversation moved through the details of our lives—we were “catching up.” One friend had a married son and his family moving in with her, another a brother-in-law who had come to live with one of the friends and was in the process of dying, another friend had a first grandchild getting married, another a report on the details of her chronic illness that is increasingly limiting.
About 30 minutes into the visit, one of women said. “Wow. You know what we’re all talking about? We’re talking about change!”
Now that’s a big idea. And as we began to attach the small details of our lives to that big and enduring concept, the conversation became intensely more interesting and beneficial. We began to talk about why change is a constant that we keep bumping up against, what it requires of us, what we become because of it, why we resist it, and how we can embrace it more fully.
It’s almost like elevating yourself to a higher altitude. As if you took the lens on the camera to zoom out, taking in a bigger picture of the action. Another little clue in recognizing a Big Idea is that it’s always hopeful. You zoom out so far that you can see wondrous meaning in it all. It might include if you do this often enough you will consistently bump into Gods plan for you.
In fact, when you move from the little tiny details of your life–tomorrow’s exam, the paper that is due next week, the hurtful thing someone said– to a Big Idea, you will bump into the plan and its purpose. You will see that it all makes sense when you begin seeing it all building your personal capacity, helping you grow ultimately toward godhood. When we keep that in mind we become very hopeful about those daily tasks because it isn’t just about getting though the day it’s about becoming what God wants us to become.
Yes, the difficulties and challenges—the joys and the accomplishments of the day all make sense—and you will find the energy to keep on keeping on.
Eliza R. Snow was one of the great women of the Restoration. She was smart, she was energetic, and she was truly converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But, life in those early days of the LDS church was filled with exhausting, difficult and never-ending tasks—and disappointments. Eliza, herself, would never have children or a home of her own, yet she lived her life—joyously—in the shade of Big Ideas.
Let me show you what I mean by that: In October 1845 she was living in an attic room in Nauvoo. It was a small, difficult to stand up in, and sparsely furnished it must have seemed a discouraging place in the wake of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and the subsequent pressures and strains on the saints in Nauvoo. It was at this time that she received news of her beloved father’s death. Against that backdrop, using a trunk for a desk, she penned the words that we know as the hymn “O My Father.” It isn’t a litany of her woes; it isn’t small in any way. It is a hymn to the whole glorious plan. She speaks of the pre-existence, she notes that her Heavenly Father placed her on this earth for a wise and glorious purpose. She concludes that when she has completed all you sent me forth to do, with your mutual approbation, let me come and dwell with you.” As you and I see our daily tasks in terms of His Wise and Glorious Purposes, it changes everything!
Not too long ago I attended a bridal shower. The women who were there were taking turns giving advice to the young couple. One woman simply said, “Don’t lead small lives!” She didn’t explain what she meant by that but I’ve continued to think about it. I believe that a “small life” is one that is content to think, do and be the same year after year after year. Conversely we enlarge our lives when we go forward with curiosity—wondering, asking questions, acquiring new information.
It takes very little effort on a campus like this to enlarge your life. Observe, ask questions, and find out everything you can about the different cultures represented here. Give your friends, professors, staff members an opportunity to talk—to tell you about their families, their childhoods, the things they understand that you don’t. BYU Hawaii will enlarge your life forever, if you will take advantage of your time here. So be curious. Wake up and think. Think Big.
My next invitation is to Think Straight. Elder M. Russell Ballard said: “In my office hangs a printed statement that includes the last words spoken by my grandfather Elder Melvin J. Ballard before his passing. He was in the hospital phasing in and out of a coma. My father said that Grandfather suddenly opened his eyes and looked into the room and said, ‘Above all else, brethren, let us think straight.’”
I’m not sure what Elder Ballard meant by thinking straight. But I do know the importance of our thoughts. What we think, what we believe, determines our emotions. And our emotions determine our behavior. So thinking straight is a pretty big deal.
Let me give you a negative example of not thinking straight. A missionary reported that he was assigned a new companion—a greenie. As they were riding their bikes along the first day the new elder was about twenty feet in front of him—right in his sight line. It was flat, boring pavement, and the missionary in front started riding along with no hands. The senior companion observed this and then became aware of the thoughts in his own head: They went something like this. “Wow. I could never do that. He’s a way better missionary already than I am. This is going to be awful, working with someone who can do everything. It won’t be long before he finds out what a loser I am. I can’t do anything. I just wish this whole mission thing would be over.”
Look at that thinking; it happens so fast you’re hardly aware of it. He was consistently discourage and depressed because of the messages he was giving himself. Its crooked and distorted thinking.
Contrast that thinking to this: “I am a child of God with my own gifts and talents. My companion is also a child of God with his own gifts and talents. When both of us bring those gifts to Him, He will magnify them so that we can both be good missionaries.”
I ask you, which of those thought patterns represent straight thinking? Which kind of thinking produces joy? Which produces misery? The most fundamental property of thinking straight is to know what is true and what is not. Distorted, crooked thinking is all about thinking out of beliefs that aren’t true.
Thinking straight is a vital part of happiness. Remember, our thoughts determine our emotions and our emotions determine our behavior. It’s hard to overestimate the power to be found in straight thinking. And guess what, we all fall prey to distorted thinking—it’s part of our human condition. Let me describe some distorted thinking that you may indulge in at times:
“Responsible, righteous people never make mistakes.” Or here’s one: “Everyone else can make mistakes, but I can’t.” Or “I can only feel good about myself if everyone–and I mean everyone–let me know I’m doing a good job.” “Maybe it’s about measuring my value by my grade point average or my weight, or my church calling.”
There is a remedy: Jacob tells us that the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not…It speaketh of things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13). And Moroni challenges us to ask God, because “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).
When you find yourself anxious, discouraged, and full of negative emotions, try to figure out what beliefs you’re acting out of. And then, ask God to tell you the truth about yourself and your situation. And then listen and feel his answer, and determine that you will give up distorted thinking. Think Straight.
A third invitation I invite you to, is to Think Abundantly. I love the word abundant; it has lots of soft sound and seems to go along with this season of the year, the harvest and gathering in. Thinking abundantly means knowing that there is more than enough for everyone. Abundant thinking is full of gratitude for what you have and delight in what others have. How do we increase our ability to think abundantly?
Surely, one way is to experience nature. Nature is the model of abundance. Margaret and I have been walking the past couple of mornings and as we have walked we have watched the sun come up, it’s dark when we leave but gradually the sky takes on color that is just beautiful in the light of early morning. There is no flash of sudden light or accompanying trumpets. The air is clear and still as we watch the sun gradually floods the earth with light. The morning is fresh, full and deliriously wonderful. It could have been the very first morning in the Garden of Eden.
I love the lyrics to the song that the Tabernacle Choir sings so beautifully:
Morning has broken, like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning,
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning,
God's re-creation of the new day."
You can do that every morning, the sun rises at 6:29 AM this week in Laie, you can go out and experience the world flooded light and feel the abundance.
A story was told of a 22 year old mother of two who was widowed. Finding that the mornings, when most husbands leave for work, and the evenings, when they usually returned home were her most difficult times, she stumbled onto a way to reclaim abundance. In her words, “Instead of struggling to fight off sadness and loneliness in the house each morning, I decided to step outside to greet Heavenly Father in the sunrise, partaking of the beauty only He, the Source of all light, could offer. The mellow hues of refracted sunlight witnessed of His love, and deep swelling gratitude began to fill my aching soul, sweeping away the darkness and securing a wholesome perspective for the day.”
At sunset she returned to the porch witnessing that “He begins and ends each day in beauty, silently setting forth breathtaking loveliness uniquely crafted for that day and beckoning us to be happy in Him. “She concludes her story, looking back over 40 years of sunrises and sunsets. “What could have been a long and lonely widowhood has instead been richly blessed by harvesting the sunrises and sunsets He has given every day.”
That’s abundant thinking, isn’t it!
We can talk abundantly–our patterns of speech become habitual. Break the habit of speaking negatively. Practice, even memorize, positive hopeful phrases. Say them to yourself. Say them in the course of your conversations.
How about these:
“We can do that.”
“It will all work out.”
“Things will get better.”
“Life is good!”
“Isn’t it great to be alive!”
Nourishing creativity builds abundance.
When I packed my bags to come to Hawaii I put in a little set of watercolors, a couple of brushes and some paper. Why did I do that? Not because I’m a great artist or because I am going to paint something that’s even worth framing. It’s because I’m feeling a bit depleted and I know that doing something creative will replenish my soul. I could just as easily have brought my camera and spent a couple of hours looking through the view-finder, assessing the light, noticing shapes and lines, composing, and shooting photographs. Not as a record of my visit, but as a process for my own rejuvenation.
We always move into abundance when we are creative, Elder Scott encourages us to paint, write, sing, play an instrument, not because we will enthusiasm, a zest for life that we all need.” He said: “Creativity can engender a spirit of gratitude for life and for what the Lord has woven into your being. Find out for yourself that you don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the fruits of your own creativity” (Elder Richard G. Scott, Finding Peace, Joy, and Happiness, pp. 162-3).
I was taking care of some of my grandchildren last month while their parents were out of town. The high school senior was under a lot of pressure—schoolwork, activities, social life, etc. I noticed that she would take a break from studying every once in a while, pick up her guitar and play and sing for 5 or 10 minutes, then go back to her work. That’s a smart girl. I didn’t say she closed her book and went off to the beach for the whole afternoon. A little break where we tap into creativity will rejuvenate our soul.
We have a choice of living out of an abundance mentality or a scarcity mentality. When we live out of scarcity we are always worried that there won’t be enough to go around. We’re busy comparing what we have or are, to what others have or are. Remember our missionary? Not only was he not thinking straight—he wasn’t thinking abundantly!
“Comparison is the fast track to misery.” I believe that. And besides that, comparison isn’t very useful. No matter how beautiful, or thin, or fit, well dressed, rich, or successful you are, there will always be someone who is more so—and someone who is less so. It’s meaningless, kids!
In the April 2012 General Conference Elder Holland taught us well as he retold the story of the laborers in the vineyard. He said: “We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign May 2012, p. 31). This is not a race; it’s a journey we are all taking together. This is the way that we go back to our Heavenly Father.
Abundant thinkers look generously at others, giving them the benefit of the doubt. In fact, if you look long enough at someone else, you will see yourself. We are more alike than we are different. Abundant thinkers see those things.
Joseph Smith counseled us about stingy thinking. He said: “don’t be limited in your views with regard to your neighbors’ virtues, but be limited towards your own virtues, and not think yourselves more righteous than others; you must enlarge your souls towards others if you would do like Jesus…let your hearts expand…and bear with the faults and errors of mankind” (Joseph Smith, Minutes of Relief Society, 1842).
Someone once said: “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story. That’s what charity is all about, listening to one another’s stories and loving them.”
When I was a little girl, comic books were treasured items. When we went on a family vacation my mother allowed us each to buy a new comic book to take along. I always chose either an Archie and Veronica or an Uncle Scrooge. Although Uncle Scrooge (Donald Duck’s rich uncle) was the prototypical tightwad, I loved the frames that showed him diving into his coins. Does anyone here remember the artist’s rendition?
At least once—and usually on the last page, he would go into a room that was essentially an indoor swimming pool, but instead of water, the pool was filled with his money. With an expression of absolute delight and happiness Uncle Scrooge would bounce on the end of the diving board and then dive into the money, swimming around in it—loving the absolute abundance of it all! That’s the way I feel about my blessings. There are so many we all revel in. Abundance with a capital “A.” Remember that in God’s world there is enough and more for everyone. Ultimately we can each inherit all that the Father has. Interesting math, isn’t it? That we each get everything that He has.
I offer my testimony that, just as the sun comes up every single morning, the light of the Son of the living God is ever-available. He is the author and finisher of our faith, the Biggest Idea in the Universe, the Abundant Giver of Truth. He is the One who weeps for us, calls to us, and reaches for us— offering to encircle us in the arms of His love. You and I are engraved on the palms of his hands. Of this I bear witness, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.