“Ears to Hear”

I am so excited to welcome all of you back to campus. I hope you enjoyed your summer. President Reese and I missed you. And we love you. If this is your first semester at BYU, we are so glad you’re here, and we hope you have an ­amazing year! We hope your experience at BYU will help you become the person God wants you to be.

To begin my talk, let me start with a little experience I had last week. I was busy making dinner and noticed that the garbage was really full, so I called out, “Shane, can you take out the garbage?”

I kept working on dinner, and about 10 minutes later I noticed that the garbage was still full. It seems he didn’t quite hear me.

A few minutes later I called out, “Dinner’s ready!” and immediately he appeared out of nowhere. It seemed his hearing had improved immensely over the course of just a few minutes. This is what we often refer to as “selective hearing.”

Have you ever been talking to someone and realized halfway through the conversation that they weren’t actually listening to you? Maybe they
were looking at their phone, watching TV, or just nodding along. And yet the moment you say something they’re interested in, they suddenly hear every word.

We’ve all at some point or another experienced selective hearing—sometimes we can hear something but not really hear it. My invitation to you at the outset of this semester is to have ears to hear—to really hear the instructions from heaven that God wants to give to you and then to have the faith to follow them. What I hope you feel today is a greater desire to turn to the Lord, to seek Him in your daily life, and to let Him be the first one you turn to.

At several times throughout His ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ used a certain phrase to invite His disciples to focus on what they—and we—needed to hear: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”¹

The best way I know how to do that is through prayer.

Daily Prayer Can Change You

In my family as I was growing up, my parents taught me how to pray, and we prayed together every day. At first it was a habit, and I’m not sure my prayers were anything special. But eventually the habit started to change me. I realized that praying every day—at any time and in any place—allowed me to feel a daily, ongoing connection to Heavenly Father. This connection to Heavenly Father helped me know that I could put my trust in Him.

In the movie Shadowlands, which is based on the life of C. S. Lewis, the character portraying Lewis pushes back when someone suggests that he prays so God will give him what he asks for. Lewis’s character replies:

That’s not why I pray. . . . I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.²

When we understand our relationship with Heavenly Father, then we begin to understand that daily, constant prayer is how we unite ourselves with His point of view. I promise that as you make your prayers more earnest, you will be able to put your trust in Him with all your heart instead of relying on your “own understanding.”³

What’s more, our prayers not only change us, but they can change others by allowing them to be instruments in God’s hands. I once found myself entering Walmart as spring was blossoming. The store had just put out its new flowerpots for the season, and I saw one that would make the perfect Mother’s Day gift for my mom.

I bought it and hauled it to my car. The trouble was that I had no way of getting it into the trunk. The pot was big and heavy, and I had no idea how I was going to get it into my car.

I silently prayed for help. Immediately an elderly store employee was by my side. I was a little concerned he wouldn’t be able to help, but with true care he helped me fold down my car seats and heave the pot in so it fit just right. I thanked him, got in my car, and cried.

I was so moved that my Heavenly Father had heard and answered my simple but very sincere prayer. He knew I wanted this for my mom, and He knew my limitations. He used another one of His children to bless me, and I am sure that man was blessed in the process. It is often in the small everyday moments in our lives when the Lord reveals most clearly to us that He is there and that He is listening.

Answers Come in the Lord’s Time

Some prayers are answered in an immediate and clear way. I wish I knew of a formula for predicting when God will answer our prayers. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think one exists.

What we do have is assurance from God that He hears our prayers and gives what is needful to us when we need it. Listen to these scriptures about prayer:

• “He heareth the prayer of the righteous.”⁴
• “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good.”⁵
• “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”⁶
• “Ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.”⁷

I don’t hear anything in those verses telling me when I’ll get answers to my righteous desires, but I do hear with certainty that God knows me and that He will lead me as I humbly submit to Him.

And yes, sometimes those blessings do come just as we ask for them.

But isn’t it often the case that we have to wait for the answer? It has been that way for me. Let me share an example.

Since I was a little girl, I wanted two things with all my heart: I wanted to attend BYU, and I wanted to get married in the temple. So I prayed that those things would happen.

Well, I had to wait—a long time. I kept praying, and I kept waiting. For years.

I didn’t stand still though. I tried my best to make good things happen. I worked hard at school to be accepted into BYU—and let me tell you, I’m pretty sure that prayer is the only reason that I got into BYU!

I also tried my best to stay true to my covenants and to prepare to go to the temple. Then a guy entered my life. I have to say, I didn’t see Shane coming! He was everything I was looking for and more. He was good looking, smart, and funny. But most importantly, he had swagger. We dated for a while and eventually were married in the Manti Utah Temple. While these prayers were answered, I’ve also had many times when I wasn’t sure the Lord was answering my prayers.

If you’re wondering why the Lord hasn’t answered your prayers, I suggest four things:

First, wait for answers—but don’t just wait. What I mean by that is this: Don’t wait to move forward with your life. Keep moving and stay patient while being “anxiously engaged in [good things].”⁸

Second, immediately write down thoughts that come to your mind. Thoughts are often fleeting and hard to remember. Write down actions and ideas that come to you and then do them.

Third, remember the many times the Lord has answered your prayers in the past and make notes about how you felt. Maybe you felt renewed strength, determination to move forward, or peace and calmness.

Fourth, take to heart the wisdom of the psalmist, who wrote, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”⁹

Tune Out Distractions

True selective hearing—or selective auditory attention—is in fact a very useful trait that most of us have. It leads to a phenomenon that often goes by the name of the “cocktail party effect,” but on our campus we call it the “mocktail party effect.”

Picture yourself in a busy and noisy social gathering. A friend approaches you and wants to talk. Despite the music and the bustling and side conversations around you, you’re likely able to hear and respond to your friend. In that moment your brain recognizes that your friend is the most important thing to focus on, and it filters out the background noise.

We can and should train our spiritual senses to do the same. There is so much noise in this world. And so much noise in your lives! Homework, relationships, notifications, social media, finances, world events, and so much more all beg for your undivided attention.

And you probably have sincere prayers and desires in your hearts right now—that you’ll do well in school this semester, that you’ll find friends, that you’ll pick a good major, that you’ll survive a trip to the Testing Center, or that you’ll learn who you are and what you can become.

How Will You Hear the Lord?

President James E. Faust said prayer is a “lifeline.” He taught, “Each of us has problems that we cannot solve and weaknesses that we cannot conquer without reaching out through prayer to
a higher source of strength.”¹⁰

We are promised in the scriptures that when we reach out to the Lord in prayer, He will bring comfort and peace to our hearts.¹¹ His love is unconditional. He has a plan for you that may not be understood immediately, but He is working “a mighty change in us”¹² if we let Him.

This semester, let us tune out the noise and focus on God. Find quiet time each day in which you can turn to your Heavenly Father and pour out your soul to Him. And then listen—really listen—with ears to hear what heaven wants to tell you.

I testify that God lives, that He is there. He knows you by name, and He really does hear and answer our prayers. I know He will answer your prayers “in his own time, and in his own way.”¹³ Shane and I are praying for you this year. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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