Brothers and sisters, Aloha! Kia Ora Koutou Katoa. I am grateful for many things today.
Firstly, I’m grateful for Mika and Arihia being here and having something to say about me that is possibly interesting to know. Our extended family of 26 is diverse in every way. Our family has come a long way and grown in ways that we could not have imagined at the time of my proposal to Lorretta – one of the miracles of mortality.
I am thankful to these students from New Zealand who have shared their musical talents with us today. Music indeed is a need of the soul. Kia Ora Kyla, Julliet, Tiana, Ani, and Jacob.
I want to thank my students for their suggestions on what I should talk about. One student said, “You should speak about ways to stay driven in school. We get worn out, and sometimes, we need ways to get our drive back when it comes to school.” I appreciated this comment and pray that what I talk with you about today will do just that. School has been going for four weeks now. Assignments are getting heavier, and exams are coming soon if not already, but you are here today. Thank you.
I also want to thank President Wheelwright for this invitation, which arrived before Christmas and has consumed us, not just me, for the past seven weeks, day and night, and in many ways. I have not sought this opportunity but rather have tried to avoid it for all of the years I have been here, but in a spirit of repentance, I also pray that this will be an edifying hour.
Gratitude
Okay, we are in school, so let’s have a quiz. Let me ask you three questions. Give yourself an impulse rating on a scale of 1-NO, 2-MAYBE, or 3-YES.
1 – I have so much in life to be thankful for.
2 – If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list.
3 – I am grateful to a wide variety of people.
Now add up your points. Have you got a total? Check with your neighbor.
If your score is over 6, then while I speak, you can nod your head and mentally say, “Amen!”
If your score is between 4 and 6, you probably should make a list as I speak.
If your score is below 4, you could listen attentively and ask someone after Devotional that has a higher score “What was that all about today? Did I miss something?”
We talk often about virtue and virtues; virtues are moral character strengths that ennoble us. For example, as you all know from your parents, “Patience is a virtue.” Did I quote that just right? Courage, mercy, justice, integrity, respect, compassion, honesty, loyalty, chastity, reverence for God, and spiritual things are also virtues. The knights of King Arthur, that mythical king in early England, were warriors who were always on a quest that required their virtue to obtain success. Sir Galahad said, “My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure.”
Gratitude, or thankfulness or appreciation, is a virtue. Gratitude is the thinking and expressing and giving of thanks to or for those who have helped us in any way. This encompasses those who have come before us, those who are here now, and even those who will come after us.
The Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; … And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more” (D&C 78: 17, 19).
Someone has said that we are experts at taking things for granted. We know from the experience of the Savior with the ten lepers that only one returned to give thanks. This tells us that gratitude is an uncommon virtue. G. K. Chesterton said, “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
Having a working “gratitude attitude” keeps us on an even keel from day to day, enabling us to meet the challenges of each day with our wits about us. Gratitude keeps us humble, open, able to think under pressure, and enabled to receive the blessings of heaven. John Milton, the poet who became blind, said, “Gratitude bestows reverence, changing forever how we experience life and the world.”
Sometimes, we are too “whakama” or shy to be grateful, but Piglet, in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh,” “noticed even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
Sometimes, however, it is hard to maintain an attitude of gratitude, especially when terrible things happen (and I am not talking here about quizzes or examinations). Our body and spirit are our soul, physiologically bound together, so when something of a visceral nature hurts us, whether physical or emotional, we are deeply hurt, and we retract and sometimes react. These experiences cause us to shrink, to withdraw from life, from family and friends, and from God. The great blessing is that gratitude can heal us.
Emilie Parker was one of 20 children who were killed by a shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School just over a year ago. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve advised Emilie’s parents to not allow “might have beens” to torment them. Emilie’s mother said, “It’s not as simple as forgiving just one time. [Emilie] missed Halloween and I feel anger building up inside of me and I feel that loss. I have to choose to forgive him again and to grieve and then I have to choose to let it go. So that advice Elder Cook gave me was very beautiful. It gave me the power, the control to let things go because he promised me that it would be okay and promised it would help me. It has been one of the greatest blessings that I’ve had – the power to let things go and be ok with it” (Lois M. Collins, Deseret News, December 10, 2013). Forgiving, grieving, and letting go are precursors to gratitude.
Nelson Mandela, recently the president of South Africa, passed away last December. He spent more than twenty years earlier in his life in a jail because of the laws of a racially prejudiced nation. Of his final release from jail, he said, “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison” ( Long Walk to Freedom).
The blind Helen Keller wrote of her well-known upbringing, “It has been said that life has treated me harshly; and sometimes I have complained in my heart because many pleasures of human experience have been withheld from me. … If much has been denied me, much, very much has been given me” ( The Open Door).
A gratitude attitude can heal our hearts.
People
Great friends help us and strengthen us in the achievements of our lives. Ivanhoe is a story written by Sir Walter Scott about a medieval Saxon knight, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who returned from the crusades and was imprisoned by his enemies. While in his cell, he hears a battle going on outside, and he asks a companion to describe the battle and the attacker, the Black Knight, who turns out to be his hero and warrior king, Richard, back from the Crusades. After the description is given, Ivanhoe says, “I would endure ten years’ captivity to fight one day by that good knight’s side.” Friends whom we can say this of are ones we need to have and whom we will be eternally grateful for.
Let me give you some examples of great friends whom we can be grateful for.
My first friend whom I recommend to you is our Heavenly Father. Everything he has given us helps us return to him in the celestial world. His first commandment – thou shalt have no other Gods before me – tells us to keep him as our focal point for that very purpose. The Prophet Joseph Smith told us, “Our heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive; and, at the same time, is more terrible to the workers of iniquity, more awful in the executions of His punishments, and more ready to detect every false way, than we are apt to suppose Him to be” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 257-8).
Doesn’t this sound like a real loving father to you? He loves us, protects us, and forgives us, and when we repent, he remembers our mistakes no more, unlike Satan who never wants us to forget our faults and sins and tries to make sure that no one else forgets them either. Satan is the accuser. Joseph Smith said, “If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you” ( History of the Church 4:445-6).
Today, many Christians regard us as blasphemers and heretics when we say, “As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may become” ( The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1984], 1). But this knowledge gives us real intent when we sing the song “I Am a Child of God.”
We all know the story of the prodigal son. He knew that his father loved him but chose to go his own way until finally, after making such a mess of his life, he humbled himself and returned to his father. The point of the parable is that we all can repent and return to God who will kill the fatted calf to celebrate our return.
In the, parable the son grew up knowing his father and that his father loved him. Some of us, however, do not know personally in our hearts that our Heavenly Father loves us, but we must know it, or we will not come to Him. If we will prayerfully seek out our Heavenly Father, we can receive a witness that He loves us, and that will be so personal that it will become a sacred part of our lives from then on.
Give Him thanks every day for His care for you, and ask that He prepare the way ahead of you each day that you may succeed that day and finally return to Him.
My second friend I know we are grateful to is our elder brother, our Savior, Jesus the Christ. We know so little of His life as a child, as a teenager, and as a young adult, but two wonderful things about Him we do know are one, He loves and respects our Heavenly Father and always gives Him thanks and reverence, and two, though He grew up reading the many detailed prophecies of His own future suffering and death as written in the Old Testament, yet with courage and commitment, He continued on to complete the Atonement, saying often to others, “Be of good cheer” (Mark 6:50).
Each Sunday as we take the sacrament, we give thanks and remember “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, … Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit” (D&C 19:16, 18).
Such a great friend to be thankful for, so much about whom can be said, but better that our appreciation is lived more than said.
My third great friend to be grateful for is the Prophet Joseph Smith. What a happy and positive friend he is. We are so blessed by his life and work that now we can hope and live for celestial glory. We know much about his life but little really about his spiritual education. He said, “Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that was ever written on the subject” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 324).
He knew that because that was his experience. He once said, “‘Brethren, if I were to tell you all I know of the kingdom of God, I do know that you would rise up and kill me.’ Brigham Young quickly [and wisely] arose and said, ‘Don’t tell me anything that I can’t bear, for I don’t want to apostatize’” ( Reflections of Parley P. Pratt MS55).
We read in our scriptures, “Joseph Smith … has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it” (D&C 135:3). You know, men like Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, and Paul, and that is saying something! “He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people” (D&C 135:3).
The Prophet Joseph had some tough times, and during one of them, the Savior reminded him “The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than He?” (D&C 122:8).
And so what do we learn from Heavenly Father, our Savior, and the Prophet Joseph Smith about our own lives? Do we believe in our own eternal significance? Generally, we usually are not too sure, but we do have our patriarchal blessings, we have the assurance of President Eyring, and we know what God said to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” (Jeremiah 1:5). Have we ahead of us great and significant things to do and experience? We do. They may not be easy, but we can do them.
Some days, we will be challenged by the Adversary. Satan presents himself as the god of this world, and we learn from the life experiences of Moses, Job, Jesus, and Joseph Smith that Satan has access to us as a part of this mortal experience. But when we are faithful, with the Savior’s help, we can resist him.
Phillips Brooks, an episcopal bishop and preacher at Harvard University who lived in the 1800’s, wrote, “You may search all the ages. … You may go through the crowded streets of heaven, asking each saint how he came there, and you will look in vain for a man morally and spiritually strong, whose strength did not come to him in a struggle.”
As I might paraphrase, “When things get tough, the celestial get going.”
Now you also need some close and personal friends. This school is a great place to find some friends whom you will treasure for the rest of your lives as we have.
Gifts
Some gifts you might also be grateful for are revelation, the priesthood, and our Brigham Young University–Hawaii.
Revelation is a gift to us from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. You know it when you get it. You have heard and probably made these comments: “I was just thinking,” “I just had a thought,” “Guess what,” “It occurs to me that,” or “I am feeling really good about.” These surges of new thought and feeling come to you like that, don’t they?
When revelations are written, they become our scripture. The Christian world struggles by limiting the scriptures to the Bible as it is now printed and packaged. “No man shall add unto this book,” they say. But for us, because Heavenly Father lives and continues to speak, both to the prophet for the Church and to us personally, the collection called scriptures keeps growing all the time.
Elder Richard G. Scott told us in a recent Conference what President Joseph F. Smith said of our loved ones who have passed on:
“I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. … We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, and they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves. These impressions we can receive from them should be sacred to us and our families.” (Joseph F. Smith, in Conference Report, Apr. 1916, 2–3)
It is instructive to note that when the children of Israel were led out of Egypt and after 40 years were ready to enter Canaan, Jehovah had given them, through Moses, scriptures beginning with Genesis, and as they went along, they received Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
When Lehi left Jerusalem, he needed scriptures and his genealogy, so sent his sons back to get them from Laban.
When the gospel was restored in this latter day, one of the first tasks Joseph had was the translation of the Book of Mormon. We now, in addition, have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price along with our General Conference talks.
When the lost ten tribes return – they who are not lost to God but lost to men and perhaps lost from God – we are told that they will bring with them their scriptures and their genealogy (2 Nephi 29:13).
On our mortal journey, scriptures and genealogy are a necessity for us as children of Heavenly Father.
We use often words like “luck,” “providence,” “serendipity,” and “coincidence” to explain away the events of our lives that should demonstrate to us that Heavenly Father is interested and engaged in our lives.
We can know of His interest through feelings received through the Holy Ghost. Hopefully, we learned in our Primary years to recognize answers to our prayers. This is a fundamental “know-how” that we must have because we need to be connected to Heaven to succeed in this second estate. A smart phone just won’t do it.
Now I would like to talk about a great blessing to us all: the priesthood. The Priesthood is a real power that enables things to happen on earth upon the principles of Heaven. When our eldest living child, Arihia, was born, she was in severe distress with the expectation of severe brain damage, as a result of oxygen loss, and death within a few days. With we her parents pleading, begging, and fasting for her life, two of Lorretta’s uncles and I blessed her in her incubator in the intensive care unit and immediately, immediately, there was a profound improvement in her health. Where she vomited milk, she now kept it down. Where she convulsed often, she now relaxed. Where she rejected her mother’s milk, she now accepted it. Where her body was failing rapidly, she now went from strength to strength. Of course, she never did meet the doctor’s items on his Denver development chart, but she lives. And from that time until now, she has been the healthiest of our children and also with no cavities ever.
As our children have grown, many and varied emergencies have occurred from cut legs to broken collar bones as well as school semesters, which have required, first of all, a priesthood blessing. The emergencies have not been taken away, but our ability to overcome and to see Heavenly Father at work through “coincidences” and “providence” has been a wonderful testimony.
I saw a man fall off his motor scooter one day and sustain a really serious head injury, which left him unconscious. A neighbor laid his hands on this man and blessed him. The man immediately began to moan and fight to regain consciousness in response to the call. It was a strong testimony to me of the power and reality of the priesthood. Over my life and on many occasions, I have blessed my wife, our children, our homes, our cats and dogs, and our non-member in-laws, even over the phone. I am the family priesthood “doctor” but always I am open to suggestions on what I should offer as a blessing.
As young men in the Church, we are given the Aaronic Priesthood and invited to call on and be involved with the ministering of angels to help meet the needs of the members of the Church. We later receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, which holds the keys of the administering of the Gospel and the knowledge of God. The scriptures tell us that in the ordinances of this priesthood is the power of godliness made manifest (D&C 84:19, 20). We learn about doing God’s work by doing God’s work. This priesthood I hope will be something that you learn to depend on as you go through life. Always keep contact with a worthy Melchizedek priesthood holder.
Ultimately, we also should be really grateful for this school. I know that each of you is somewhat of an adventurer in coming here. About 85 percent of you have travelled very far from home to come here. You need to know that this is a special place. Laie in old times was a place of refuge – almost a holy place. In 1864, when the Church was looking for a place to reestablish their headquarters in Hawaii, William Cluff entertained a daytime vision of Brigham Young who discussed with him that this 6,000 acres was the place. Francis A. Hammond, who was assigned by Brigham Young to come with George Nebeker to Hawaii immediately thereafter to formally purchase land for the Church, had a similar vision. This 6,000 acres of land was subsequently purchased in 1865. In Hawaii, Oahu is known as “the gathering place,” and Laie was certainly to become that for us, at least for part of our lives.
President Joseph F. Smith, whom I quoted earlier, oldest son of Hyrum Smith, who had spent his youth as a missionary in Hawaii, later in 1885 as an apostle encouraged the members here in Laie to stay on this land with a promise that it would flourish. They had no wells of water. Today, we have five wells, and I am given to understand that the rest of the island would love to have access to them. In 1915, he also dedicated the land for the temple, and after his passing, President Heber J. Grant dedicated the completed temple in 1919. Elder David O. McKay visited in 1921, as our mural at the front of the David O. McKay building shows, and the rest, when he became the President of the Church, is, as they say, history.
Our school has matured over the years. We began in a second-hand army barracks where the North Stake Center is and received our accreditation after a number of years in the new campus built in the middle of a sugar cane field. In the beginning, there were 153 students. When I was first here, we had about 800 students. Now, we have about 2,500 students. We have moved in focus from a private version of a small state university to a fully focused faith-based university where we integrate spiritual and secular knowledge – not just package secular knowledge under a church title.
We are all blessed to be here, but for you, it is a springboard to the rest of your lives. Please take advantage of it while you are here, and you will look back to thank Heavenly Father for this experience.
You and Me
Today, I have tried to talk about gratitude – what it is and some things that we may be grateful for. I have addressed the nature of Heavenly Father, his Only Begotten Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Prophet Joseph Smith who are wonderful people whom we can be grateful to. We can also be grateful for revelation, the priesthood, and our school, this Brigham Young University–Hawaii.
Now you might think, “My score was between 4 and 7 on the quiz. What are some of the things I could have on my to-do list after today?” Here are some suggestions:
1 – Decide to be grateful. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously.”
2 – Express your thanks genuinely from your heart. “‘Thank you’ is a wonderful phrase. Use it. It will add stature to your soul,” said Sister Marjorie Hinckley, wife of our last prophet.
3 – Make contact with people as you talk to them. They are God’s children, as are you. Listen attentively to them and to the Holy Ghost.
4 – Each day, take time somewhere privately to pray deeply to our Heavenly Father to give thanks and ask about your special situation and your specific tasks and challenges.
As you do these few things, you will know what to do next. Your life will be enriched and your appreciation of the worth of souls will increase (D&C 18).
You may have heard this poem by Myra Brooks Welch called, “The Touch of the Master's Hand.” I will read some verses.
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile:
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who’ll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?"
"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
As he held it up with the bow.
"One thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its' worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the Master’s hand."
It is my testimony that we will find that as we practice gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation, we will come to realize that this poem is about us in the deepest way, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.