Quick to Observe

www.kevinhinckley.com

With the financial crisis, even superheroes are taking part time jobs

And, they discovered a long lost photo of two Nephites

Joseph Smith and MormonJoseph Mormon

Named after their fatherNamed after their father

Age 16

Joseph

““Sober” childSober” child

Visited by the LordVisited by the Lord

Responsible for Nephite RecordsResponsible for Nephite Records

Preached the GospelPreached the Gospel

Called as ApostleCalled as Apostle

Saw attacks against the ChurchSaw attacks against the Church

Became a GeneralBecame a General

Killed defending his peopleKilled defending his people

Age 11

By Age 15

Age 24

To the “peaceable”

Yes

Mormon

Cumorah

Age 12

Age 14

Age 23

Yes

Yes

Nauvoo

Carthage

Yes

Yes

MormonAnd about the time that Ammaron hid up

the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age, and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people)

and Ammaron said unto me: I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe;

Therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people;Question:

What do you think Ammaron was seeing?

Elder Bednar

Before attending her sacrament meetings, Sister Bednar frequently prays for the spiritual eyes to see those who have a need. Often as she observes the brothers and sisters and children in the congregation, she will feel a spiritual nudge to visit with or make a phone call to a particular person.

And when Sister Bednar receives such an impression, she promptly responds and obeys. It often is the case that as soon as the “amen” is spoken in the benediction, she will talk with a teenager or hug a sister or, upon returning home, immediately pick up the phone and make a call.

As long as I have known Sister Bednar, people have marveled at her capacity to discern and respond to their needs. Often they will ask her, “How did you know?” The spiritual gift of being quick to observe has enabled her to see and to act promptly and has been a great blessing in the lives of many people.

BYU Devotional, May 2005

President Packer

If all you know is what you see with your natural eyes and hear with your natural ears, then you will not know very much…

Elder Bednar, BYU Devotional, 2005

Question:

What kind of things would the Lord have us be “quick to observe” (or discern)

President Stephen L. RichardsFirst, I mention the gift of discernment [quick to

observe], embodying the power to discriminate . . . between right and wrong. I believe that this gift when highly developed arises largely out of an acute sensitivity to impressions—spiritual impressions, if you will—to read under the surface as it were, to detect hidden evil, and more importantly to find the good that may be concealed.

The highest type of discernment is that which perceives in others and uncovers for them their better natures, the good inherent within them. .

. . . Every member in the restored Church of Christ could have this gift if he willed to do so. He could not be deceived with the sophistries of the world. He could not be led astray by pseudo-prophets and subversive cults. Even the inexperienced would recognize false teachings, in a measure at least. . .

. We ought to be grateful every day of our lives for this sense which keeps alive a conscience which constantly alerts us to the dangers inherent in wrongdoers and sin.

[CR, April 1950, 162–63; emphasis added]

Finally,Election 2008

“Observe”- with your spiritual eyes

Why are so many people, on all sides of the politicial isle, feeling hopeless?

Sorrow?10 And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent

of their iniquity, and began to cry … for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft which was in the land.

11 Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land…

12 And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people.

13 But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.

14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die.

Elder HollandRecently I was invited by President Bishop of the

Missionary Training Center to address the nearly two thousand missionaries in residence there. I accepted because I always assume it is impossible to give a poor talk at the MTC. They will take notes and make scriptural cross-references if you read them the telephone directory. Plus I love to hear them sing. So I went.

I visited with many of them and the minutes stretched into many minutes and then finally into nearly an hour. During that time I noticed one young elder hanging around the outer rim of the circle as all the other missionaries came and went.

Finally the traffic thinned out, and he stepped forward. "Do you remember me?" he asked.

"No," I said, "I'm sorry I don't. Tell me your name." He replied, "My name is Elder ___________." His

eyes searched mine for recognition, but I just didn't know who this young man was.

Summoning his courage for the ultimate revelation he said, "Hinckley Hall--A Faithful Friend Is a Strong Defense." Then I knew who he was. That little coded phrase may not ring any bells for you, but it meant something to him and he knew it meant something to me.

Elder Holland

On September 7, 1982, I stood in this exact spot and gave the only angry public spanking I have ever given a group of BYU students. The title of

my remarks for that back-to-school message was "A Faithful Friend Is a Strong Defense.“

I spoke of an offense, a felony--falsifying government documents--which had been committed in Hinckley Hall the April before and which had been widely covered by the press. Five months had passed but I was still hurting. Time had not soothed me.

I spoke of that incident publicly--without mentioning the names of the participants--because I care about matters of morality and honor and

personal virtue at BYU. I wanted it clear then (and now, if anyone is still wondering) that the behavior of every student at Brigham Young University matters very much to me and to what this school stands for. So I said my piece and, for all intents and purposes, forgot about it.

But, as you might guess, it was not easy for the students involved. Not only were there the burdens of university and Church actions, but the civil laws made an indelible stroke across the record of some of these young lives. There were tears and courts and sentences and probations. Legally it had been about as much of a nightmare as a college freshman could have foreseen. Obviously it was more of a nightmare than they could have foreseen because the sorrow and remorse over their "prank"--I put the word in quotation marks--was deep and rending.

I recall that very unsavory experience for you this morning simply to put a happy ending on one young man's very difficult experience. His father wrote me later and said how much courage it had taken for him to come up and talk with me at the MTC, but he said his son wanted me to know of his effort to make things right. It had not been easy for him to get a mission call. Not only were there all the court-imposed sanctions and Church restrictions, but there was the terrible personal burden of guilt.

But he wanted to serve a mission both because it was the right thing to do and because it was a way for him to say to the Church, the government, the university and all who cared about him, "I'm back. I made a serious mistake but I'm back. I am making up lost ground. I've still got a chance."