I am grateful today to be on the campus of a university established under the direction of inspired prophets, seers and revelators to bless the lives of young adults, particularly those from the Asia-Pacific region. I know that each of you, for the remainder of your lives, will look fondly back to your days at Brigham Young University–Hawaii.
You are embarking on a new semester, one leg on your journey to a degree, a career, and a bright future. About 2,600 years ago, a young man set out on a journey with his family that would take them across part of a continent and an entire ocean. Nephi knew they needed constant direction throughout their travels so he prayed and pondered often.
On one occasion, Nephi's prayers were answered with a glorious vision of the earth's future. This vision began with the words, "the Spirit said unto me: Look" (1 Nephi 11:8)! While you may not be blessed with a one-time vision of your entire future, you may rest assured that the Spirit stands ready to help you "look" during your voyage through life.
Perhaps some of you have a background like mine: Born and raised in small towns that few people recognize; non-member high school friends without a vision of their God-given potential; and no family members who previously served a mission or graduated from college. And yet you prepared yourself for admission to BYU–Hawaii, and some of you have already served missions, or soon will.
I testify that because of these wise choices your life journey will provide opportunities you now cannot possibly imagine. My mission to Taiwan thirty years ago blessed me with a deeper testimony, gospel knowledge, leadership opportunities, educational desires, and language capability. I learned how to listen to the Spirit so I could look and see where the Lord was trying to guide me. Growing up together in the small town of Farmington, New Mexico, my wife and I never dreamed we would raise six children in Beijing, Taipei, and Hong Kong, cities where our family has now lived for 13 years.
Arriving in Hong Kong two years ago, experienced residents told us that to really enjoy the city we needed to "look forward," "look in" and "look up". Today, I would like to apply this counsel for living in Hong Kong to finding joy along your journey through mortality.
LOOK FORWARD
Hong Kong is a vibrant city of seven million inhabitants, most of who seem to be in a hurry. City planners have almost perfected the art of moving many people quickly by ferry, subway, bus, trolley, escalator, sidewalk, and car. We soon learned that vehicles, not pedestrians, have the right of way at the city's many intersections. In Hong Kong, if you do not look forward during your journey, you risk being run over and stopped before reaching your destination.
This mortal life is full of frivolous and dangerous distractions that can stop progress to our eternal destination with our Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom. Book of Mormon prophets suggest two ways for us to "look forward" in this life.
Eye of Faith
First, we must look forward with an eye of faith. Some of you may feel nervous about fulfilling expectations that parents and prophets have for you – serve a mission, be married in the temple, earn a degree, bear children, provide for your family, raise your children in righteousness, serve in the Church, and so forth. It can feel overwhelming at times, which it is if we try to do it on our own. Alma asks a searching question, "Do you look forward with an eye of faith" (Alma 5:15)?
President Packer relates an experience in his marriage that helps us understand this principle. "We once had a major decision to make. When our prayers left us uncertain, I went to see Elder Harold B. Lee. He counseled us to proceed. Sensing that I was still very unsettled, he said, 'The problem with you is you want to see the end from the beginning.' Then he quoted this verse from the Book of Mormon, 'Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith' (Ether 12:6). He added, 'You must learn to walk a few steps ahead into the darkness, and then the light will turn on and go before you.' " 1
Let me apply President Packer's counsel to selecting a college major. Upon entering BYU, I was troubled by what major to choose. Having done well in math, I proceeded into engineering. After my mission, I thought that international law was the career for me and switched majors to political science. Soon I found myself missing numerical analysis, so I changed majors one more time to business finance. That choice finally felt right and I eventually came to understand that my nature was better suited to a career in business than in law.
(By the way, President Wheelwright will probably be relieved if I add that I still graduated in eight semesters, just in case some of you were considering using this major-changing story as an excuse to extend your time at BYU–Hawaii.)
My experience is that the Spirit will light your path a step at a time as you move forward in faith. Looking back 25 years, I can see that changing my major three times, working several years then returning to graduate school, and entering a profession that intrigued me was an unforeseen ticket to Beijing. This path has blessed me and my family and allowed us to be of service in the Church. I can testify with Alma that looking forward with an eye of faith allows us to "pluck of the fruit of the tree of life" (Alma 32:40).
Stand Before Christ
A second aspect of looking ahead during our journey through life is that we must look forward to standing before Jesus Christ. More than 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon teach the doctrine that each of us will someday stand before the Savior to be judged of our deeds, words, and thoughts in this life. For nearly 600 years, Book of Mormon prophets from Lehi to Samuel were constantly preparing the people to stand before Christ during his prophesied visitation to the American continent after His Atoning sacrifice, crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem.
Our prophets today are likewise preparing a people worthy to greet the Savior when he comes again. You can live your life in such a way that you look forward to that day with joyful anticipation, and not fear. Your time here at BYU–Hawaii, if lived to its full potential, can prepare you for such a joyful day.
The efforts of Book of Mormon prophets in preparing the people to meet Christ were repeatedly hindered by the Nephites slipping into the so-called "pride cycle." This pride cycle is recounted multiple times in the Book of Mormon and shows how easy it is for people to become distracted by the things of this world.
The pride cycle is too often repeated in our day. As illustrated in Lehi's vision of the tree of life, Satan is masterful at slowly leading mankind into the pride of the great and spacious building. Even those of us who have been to the temple and tasted of the sweet and precious fruit of the tree of life are not exempt from his enticements.
I hope that following graduation from BYU–Hawaii, each of you will find a career that stretches your skills and fills your days with accomplishment. That career for my wife was as a homemaker while for me it was management consulting. I worked long hours and traveled much over 15 years in this demanding profession. Nevertheless, several occasions during my career were turning points of "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15). As a young associate I had to refuse requests from managers who wanted my time on Sundays. As a new partner I declined serving some clients whose locations would cause me even more travel. As a senior partner I turned down a well-known company's offer of significant compensation to join their senior management team because I feared the impact on my family. Each time I chose gospel over career, my family, my Church service and my career ended up being blessed. I know that spiritual and temporal blessings can come to you if you keep your covenants.
Alma's words to the people of Gideon still apply to us today. "But behold, I trust that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren; I trust that ye are not lifted up in the pride of your hearts; yea, I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea, I trust that you do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and the living God, and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come" (Alma 7:6).
Sadly, I know of BYU and BYU–Hawaii graduates who gradually, over twenty to thirty years, have allowed their hearts to be set upon the things of this world. They slipped into worshipping the idols of financial rewards, political position, academic recognition, or even excessive recreation and in so doing they have lost all that really matters, an eternal companion and a righteous posterity. Please do not allow the distractions of this life to keep you from standing clean before the Savior on judgment day.
I am sometimes asked how much longer until the Savior returns and we can see Him. My light-hearted answer is, "I don't know, but if I get hit by a bus I just might see Him today." How important it is for us to keep our priorities in order.
A crucial priority in preparing ourselves to stand before the Savior is to attend church each week and renew our covenants by worthily partaking of the sacrament. Alma taught: "Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord" (Alma 13:16).
I testify the Lord will bless your journey through life as you look forward with an eye of faith and look forward to standing before Jesus Christ.
LOOK IN
Hong Kong is peopled with entrepreneurs. On every street and alley are many small shops, each filled with wonderful things. We found that when traveling around Hong Kong with a focus only on quickly reaching our destination, we missed much of what the city has to offer. Experienced friends counseled us to slow down and "look in" some of these shops. They told us of treasures they found by entering the store, going all the way to the back of the store, and looking on some hard-to-reach and dusty shelf. One of my hobbies is to collect antique figurines of scholars and grandfathers made of brass, ivory, wood, stone, and jade. Simply running down the street to my destination would not allow me to find such treasures.
Your daily life, like mine, is full of time pressures. We have classes and meetings to attend, homework and projects to complete, and exercise or leisure activities to squeeze in. Modern Apostles and prophets teach of two ways for us to "look in" during our busy mortal existence.
Our Own Soul
To begin, we must look in to our own soul. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) said, "All of us ought to pause once in a while and just stop and think. … We are prone to talk too much and do too little. I think it is a wonderful thing to just indulge once in a while in moments of introspection and see what we are doing with our lives and what contribution we are making and where we could do a little better than we are now doing." 2
Our Heavenly Father's eternal plan of happiness is a plan of growth and progression. More important than what we do during this mortal life is who we become. The restored gospel enables you and me to become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We should strive to "be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1: 3-4).
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf instructed, "To follow Christ is to become more like Him. It is to learn from His character. As spirit children of our Heavenly Father, we do have the potential to incorporate Christlike attributes into our life and character.… Developing Christlike attributes in our lives is not an easy task, especially when we move away from generalities and abstractions and begin to deal with real life. The test comes in practicing what we proclaim." 3
I was serving as a mission president in Taipei when Preach My Gospel was introduced to the Church. Chapter 6 of that inspired guide teaches Christlike attributes and invites missionaries to set goals for personal improvement. Our family decided to join with the missionaries in setting goals. Each week, the person teaching Family Home Evening would select a Christlike attribute on which to work the next week. Our smaller kids would choose quite practical traits such as smile, hug, or be happy while the older children would choose a more advanced characteristic like faith or patience. In the following days we would remind one another if behavior slipped below our goal. Over time, our home became filled with a greater portion of the Spirit.
Yet, as President Uchtdorf indicated, personal improvement in developing Christlike attributes is not always easy, as illustrated by our family's experience one week. My wife and I were busy one evening and asked the office elders to pick up our 11-year old daughter and 9-year old son from school. On the ride home, the kids began teasing one another and quarreling in the back seat. Finally, our daughter Lizzi tried to be the peacemaker and said, "Ben, do you remember the Christlike attribute this week?" After a moment, Ben replied, "Yeah, it's love at home – but we're in the car!"
How blessed we are to have the gift of repentance. Remember, looking in to our own soul and improving is the work of a lifetime. The resurrected Christ taught the Nephites, "Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life" (3 Nephi 15:9).
Hearts of Others
In seeking to become more like Christ, we must look in to the hearts of others. Our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson has been a wonderful example throughout his life in reaching out to the widow, the sick, and the less active. Even now, with his busy schedule as President of the Church, he makes time to visit hospitals and nursing homes.
While you and I may not yet be a servant like President Monson, we can begin being an instrument in the hands of the Lord by just showing up, by doing our duty. My experience as a home teacher is that when I sacrifice some of my time to enter the home of a member, Heavenly Father will send His Spirit that enables me to look in to their heart. The same spirit of inspiration came when I strived to magnify callings such as Primary teacher, Seminary instructor, or Elders Quorum President.
I recall when my first two children returned from their missions and reentered BYU. After several months at university, life did not seem to deliver the same joy as during their missions. Soon they understood why. As missionaries, every waking moment was filled with thoughts and acts of service for others. As students, most minutes were filled with personal concerns such as, "What class should I take? Who should I date? Where can I work?" Our children found as they looked to serve others – in callings, as home and visiting teachers, in class and the community – joy returned.
President Monson recently taught, "Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us.… Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." 4
My dear wife, Christy, is a daily example to me of Christlike love, of placing people above tasks. Through years of selfless service, the Spirit has refined her ability to look into the hearts of others. I remember going with my wife and my mother to a large warehouse shoe store. After a few minutes in the women's section I became bored and wandered off to the men's area. When I returned, a tearful middle-aged woman was giving Christy a hug near the check-out counter. I was fairly sure my wife did not know this person and asked my mother what was happening. Mom told me that my wife noticed this stranger sitting in an aisle with new shoes on her feet but a distant look on her face, so Christy asked if she could help. The woman replied that she was too distraught to make even a simple shoe purchase decision; her mother died the previous day, that very day was her own birthday, and the following day was to be her mother's funeral. Christy assisted this sorrowing woman in trying on several pairs of shoes, advised her which looked the best, and guided her to the cash register.
I was reminded of the Bible teaching, "Lord,… When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?… And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:37-40).
One of my favorite hymns is "Lord, I Would Follow Thee." The first two lines of each verse beautifully teach the principle of loving others and seeing into their hearts:
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"Savior, may I learn to love thee, walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own.Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye can't see.I would be my brother's keeper; I would learn the healer's art.
To the wounded and the weary, I would show a gentle heart.Savior, may I love my brother as I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon, for thy servant I would be." 5
I testify the Lord will bless your journey through life as you seek to become more Christlike by looking in to your own soul and looking in to the hearts of others.
LOOK UP
Hong Kong is so filled with bustling streets and intriguing shops that it is easy to lose ones bearings and become lost. Long-time residents told us of the need to periodically "look up." One benefit of looking up is to marvel at the majestically designed skyscrapers men have been able to construct. Usually, spotting our favorite tall building eliminates the feeling of being out of place. But sometimes, we can get so lost in these urban canyons that the only hope of regaining our sense of direction is to find an open spot and look up to Hong Kong island's highest point, "The Peak." The sense of direction that comes from seeing The Peak allows us to press forward on our journey through the crowded city.
You and I live in a world increasingly full of time-crowding diversions. If we are not careful, helpful tools like internet news and information, email, Facebook, Ipods, and WIIs can fill our time and leave little capacity for the deep things of God. Elder David A. Bednar of the Twelve recently warned, "Progressively, seemingly innocent entertainment can become a form of pernicious enslavement." 6
Elder Carlos E. Asay (1926–99) of the Seventy said, "We … must rivet our eyes and minds upon the cross of Christ if we hope to gain eternal life.… Our looks must not be allowed to wander across the way or to become fixed upon the perishable things of the world. The eye … must be trained to look upward. We must look to God and live!" 7 The scriptures teach of at least two ways for us to "look up" to God during our brief sojourn in mortality.
Prayer
First, we must look up to Heavenly Father in daily prayer. The Old Testament Psalmist proclaimed, "Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up" (Psalm 5:2-3).
Jesus is the great example of looking up to our Heavenly Father in prayer. "And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all" (Mark 6: 41).
If the Savior of the world had need to look up in prayer to perform the miracles of the loaves and fishes, how much greater is our need to look up in prayer to perform the miracles of remaining morally clean and raising righteous children in a world awash in filth and temptation.
The General Young Women's Presidency has been calling for a return to virtue. This need for virtue also applies to the male and female students of BYU–Hawaii. Daily prayer is a key to remaining virtuous in thought and in deed. On numerous occasions in ancient and modern scripture the Lord has taught and warned, "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." 8 Once, He added the phrase, "The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38).
Alma knew something about the weakness of the flesh and the power of prayer in removing the pains and guilt of sin. Referring to the day of judgment he asked, "I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances" (Alma 5:19)?
My experience in working with college-aged members of the Church is that prayer, coupled with scripture reading and Sabbath observance, is essential in maintaining a pure heart and clean hands. Please make the time to speak to your Father in Heaven each day.
Temple
In addition to prayer, we must look up to the ordinances and covenants of the temple. The scriptures consistently refer to "going up" to the house of the Lord. For example, Isaiah taught, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths" (Isaiah 2:2-3).
In Hong Kong, standing at water level and looking up at The Peak does provide a sense of direction, but only by standing on top of The Peak can one see stunning vistas in the far distance. Similarly, driving or walking by a temple can remind us of our desired destination but only entering the temple can open our eyes to our eternal possibilities as beloved children of God.
President Howard W. Hunter (1907-95) memorably stated, "I invite the Latter-day Saints to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership.… It would please the Lord if every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend. The things that we must do and not do to be worthy of a temple recommend are the very things that ensure we will be happy as individuals and as families. Let us be a temple-attending people." 9
You are so blessed to undertake your undergraduate studies at a campus where the Lord's graduate school, the temple, is nearby. When the Laie Temple reopens, I encourage you to make time to attend each week. After graduation, you may return to a city in your home country where there is not yet a temple. Even if there is a temple where you live, the pressures of earning a living and raising a small family may limit your attendance to once a month.
At the time of our marriage, my wife and I decided to attend a family ward rather than a BYU married student ward. I immediately received the calling of ward temple coordinator. Our ward was assigned a 5:30 a.m. time slot every Saturday at the Provo temple to complete a certain number of ordinances. I must have been a poor coordinator because my invitations to ward members busy with young children went unanswered. So as newlyweds, early every Saturday morning we went up to the temple. What a blessing! That temple service brought the Spirit which enabled us to look into improving every aspect of our marriage relationship.
The temple has continued as a place of revelation throughout our marriage. Every major decision we have made in life – accepting a job after BYU, returning to graduate school, bearing more children, moving the family to Dallas then Beijing, declining an attractive job offer – each choice has been accompanied by visits to the House of the Lord in fasting and prayer for confirmation of our decision. Each time, the still small voice of the Spirit came and helped us look and see what God would have us do.
I testify the Lord will bless your journey through life as you look up to Heavenly Father in daily prayer and as you look up to the ordinances and covenants of the temple.
When Nephi left Jerusalem for the wilderness he had no idea what awaited him. But each time the Spirit said unto him, "Look!" – He looked. As a result he was guided to the Promised Land where his family and people "lived after the manner of happiness" despite trial and tribulation along the way (2 Nephi 5:27). You too can live after the manner of happiness.
The advice we received upon arrival in Hong Kong does apply to a joyful journey through life. May you look forward with an eye of faith to stand before our Redeemer. May you look in to your own soul and in to the hearts of others. May you look up in prayer and to the temple.
President Monson powerfully reminds us, "This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now." 10
I bear my witness that Jesus Christ lives and has atoned for your sins; by keeping your covenants you can look forward in faith to the day when you will stand before Him. I testify of ancient prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith who restored the gospel in its fullness, and of a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson who teaches us to look in to bless others. I bear witness that you are beloved children of our Heavenly Father; He knows each of you individually by name and He will answer your prayers as you look up to Him each day. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
End Notes
1 Boyd K. Packer, "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Plain and Precious Things," Ensign, May 2005, 6–9.
2 Gordon B. Hinckley, "Inspirational Thoughts," Ensign, April 2002, 2–6.
3 Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Developing Christlike Attributes," Ensign, October 2008, 4–9.
4 Thomas S. Monson, "Finding Joy in the Journey," Ensign, November 2008, 84–87.
5 Hymns, 220.
6 David A. Bednar, "Things as They Really Are," CES Fireside for Young Adults, May 3, 2009.
7 Carlos E. Asay, " 'Look to God and Live,' " Ensign, November 1978, 54.
8 See Matt. 26: 41; Mark 14: 38; Luke 22: 40, 46; 3 Ne. 18: 18; D&C 20: 33; D&C 31: 12; D&C 61: 39.
9 Howard W. Hunter, " 'Exceeding Great and Precious Promises'," Ensign, November 1994, 7.
10 Thomas S. Monson, "Finding Joy in the Journey," Ensign, November 2008, 84–87.