My dear brothers and sisters, BYU means a lot to our family. When our oldest daughter recently graduated from here, she became the fifth consecutive generation to hold a degree from BYU, joining her mother and father, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and her great-great-grandfather who served for many years as the president of BYU. I love and appreciate this institution and hope you do as well.<\/p>\n
I ask for your faith and prayers that what is said today will be spiritually edifying to all.<\/p>\n
This morning I would like to speak about the importance of wise investing. I remember hearing that one wise investment is worth a lifetime of work. In terms of dollar returns I\u2019m sure that could be proven true. Who hasn\u2019t heard of putting $1000 in IBM many years ago and coming out with a million dollars of value some years later? Who hasn\u2019t had their financial salivary glands whetted by such thoughts or similar stories of getting into another Xerox \u201con the ground floor\u201d? Why don\u2019t we do it? Well, we don\u2019t know or we don\u2019t act or more likely the company we choose goes bankrupt and we lose it all. I have often heard the joke (and sometimes feel it\u2019s true) that, if you want to make a lot of money in the stock market, just watch what I do and then do just the opposite.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we don\u2019t listen to others or don\u2019t trust them. I remember a man once telling me to buy a certain stock. I ignored him, and it tripled in a few months. But then there is the other side. How many bought silver at $30 or $40 or $50, and it\u2019s now selling at $6, or gold at $800, and it\u2019s now at $300? We all know of the uncertainties of the commodities market.<\/p>\n
Some say, \u201cBut there is well-located real estate. It is always a sure investment.\u201d Yes, unless the zoning changes or the taxes increase or the neighborhood shifts or growth stops or floods or wars come. I remember many years ago hearing that Beirut, Lebanon, was the best and safest place in the world to invest in real estate. How would you like to have some there today?<\/p>\n
I am sure you get the point that, although there is a place for wise investment in terms of physical things, generally any investment of this nature is largely at the mercy of forces beyond our control\u2014for example, the death or defection of a key executive or salesman, the patenting of a new invention that replaces our company\u2019s product, the sudden increase in the price of oil, the unexpected shift in interest rates, the fraud or embezzlement of a trusted partner, or the precipitous rise or fall of the stock market.<\/p>\n
With this much uncertainty in investing in physical things, why are we even talking about it? Well, obviously I have not come here to visit with you about investing in physical things. I use it merely by way of contrast. You have a great business school and many experienced professors to teach you the correct principles of this type of investing; but, along with all the preparation they give you, they will always add, \u201cRemember, there is a certain degree of risk in all investments\u201d\u2014all physical investments, that is.<\/p>\n
What would you say, then, if I told you I know of some investments that have no risk whatsoever and pay handsome returns on a continuing basis? You would say, \u201cWell, they can\u2019t be physical investments,\u201d and you would be right. I speak, of course, of investments of time\u2014spiritual investments\u2014investments in character, investments in obedience, investments in service, investments in kindness, and so forth.<\/p>\n
The Lord has told us,<\/p>\n
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:<\/i><\/p>\n
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.<\/i> [Matthew 6:19-20]<\/p>\n
We live in a day of great uncertainty as far as physical investments go, but I am convinced that that uncertainty will continue to increase. Remember the statement in the Book of Mormon that says, \u201cAnd behold, the time cometh that he curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them\u201d (Helaman 13:31).<\/p>\n
I remember, when I attended business school at BYU many years ago, one of my professors gave three rules he felt were valid for good investing. He said, \u201cFirst, you should invest in things that you know something about or have had some experience in so you can tell if the promises or prospects are reasonable or way out of line. Second, you should invest in things close to home where you can see them. And, third, you should invest with people you personally know and with whom you have had experience and whom you trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am not sure if all of those rules still apply today, but they have been good guides in my life. They particularly apply perfectly to the investments of time\u2014or spiritual investments\u2014that I\u2019m talking about. We know what we are dealing with and with whom we are working, and we can trust Him fully.<\/p>\n
Naturally, you will want to do well in school and very carefully make the most prudent physical investments possible; but, with the prospects of increasing uncertainty in this field, the stark contrast of the absolute certainty of spiritual investments comes into even more clear focus.<\/p>\n
All of us are limited to the dollars we have to make physical investments with. Some, of course, have much more than others; but all are limited to some degree. On the other hand, we all have an equal amount of time. Twenty-four hours each day is allotted to every person. How we invest that time is up to us and is of utmost importance to our happiness now and forever.<\/p>\n
Let me give two specific examples\u2014first, investing in service and second, investing in kindness. To do so I will use two separate missionary experiences.<\/p>\n
Come with me for a moment to the small island of Lifuka in the South Pacific. The time is 1956. I was serving as a young missionary in Tonga and had recently been appointed district president of the Ha\u2019apai District, with headquarters in Pangai on this island of Lifuka. The district covered seventeen islands. Because our only means of transportation was by sailboat, I needed some experienced, sea-worthy counselors. As always, the Lord provided, and two fine local men were chosen as counselors.<\/p>\n
I will mention just one at this point. His name was Brother Vea. He had a beautifully kept thatched home, a lovely, clean yard, and a beautiful family. He had a nice garden to provide food for him and his family, and in addition he grew a lot of peanuts. To earn money he was a peanut vendor, and most evenings one would see him out with his cart, selling peanuts and a few other items his wife had made. The best days and evenings for business were when there were shows or rugby games or fairs or other forms of entertainment in town.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how many times we would have presidency meetings on the night of a big dance or social, but never was I aware of his saying, \u201cI can\u2019t come tonight,\u201d even though selling peanuts was his main source of income.<\/p>\n
Very often our schedule called for us to go to another island for a conference or for tracting or some other Church business which would take us away from Pangai right during a main rugby match or other large gathering. But never once did I hear Brother Vea complain or suggest we change our schedule. He was committed to serving to the best of his ability in the position to which he was called. He chose to invest in obedience and in service to others\u2014often at the seeming expense of some worldly gain.<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s follow that particular investment through. About fifteen years later, as a Regional Representative, I was given a special assignment to the South Pacific. I had the responsibility of holding some meetings in California and then moving on to Honolulu and to the islands farther south. We had two meetings scheduled in California\u2014one in the evening and one the next morning\u2014involving a few stake presidents there. As we went through the agenda that evening, I found myself feeling that we ought to finish all our business that night and not stay on the next morning. Partway through the agenda I announced that we would do so, and, of course, the presidents asked, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI don\u2019t really know why, but that\u2019s the way it\u2019s going to be.\u201d (Most stake presidents are pretty submissive when someone else is in charge.) We completed the entire agenda that evening, even though it was late. Then I began to wonder why myself.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t have a reservation out the next day until the early afternoon because we had originally scheduled to meet until noon. I wondered, \u201cWhat am I going to do with these extra several hours I have?\u201d<\/p>\n
I got up early the next morning and, as all of you would do, prayed fervently to know if there was something I ought to do. I didn\u2019t have any especially strong feelings, but I thought, \u201cWell, I\u2019d better check.\u201d So I called the airport and said, \u201cI have a reservation on this particular plane. Do you have anything leaving before then?\u201d<\/p>\n
The man said, \u201cWell, we have one leaving in forty-five minutes. Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI\u2019m here at the hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cOh, you\u2019ll never be able to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cDo you have space?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cLet me give it a try.\u201d So I quickly gathered up everything, threw it in the suitcase, and charged off to the airport. As it turned out, I went straight to the gate and was the last person on the plane, but I did get on.<\/p>\n
I arrived in Honolulu four or five hours later, and then I thought, \u201cWell, now you\u2019ve really blown it.\u201d The meetings I had were in Laie, and here I was in Honolulu with no one to pick me up for many hours. What should I do now?<\/p>\n
In just a few minutes I ran into a young man whom I had known in the mission field. He asked, \u201cWhat are you doing right now?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI\u2019m just sort of waiting around.\u201d<\/p>\n
He replied, \u201cI\u2019m on my way up to the hospital. Did you hear that the other night Brother Vea was flown in from Tonga? He has some kind of disease, and he is over at the Queen\u2019s Hospital. I was just going to visit him. If you have a few moments, would you like to come?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together we went to the hospital to visit Brother Vea. (This was the same man who had served as the very faithful and helpful counselor to me when I was district president those many years before.)<\/p>\n
When we got to the hospital, the nurse wouldn\u2019t let us in. She said, \u201cHe is in very serious condition, and only family members can visit him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I knew that I had to get in. This was the first time I began to feel for sure that this was what I ought to be doing. I said to the nurse, \u201cLook, I\u2019ve come several thousand miles to visit him. He asked me to come and visit him. Would you let me in?\u201d I showed her my ticket.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cIf you have gone to all that effort, I guess I will let you see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went in. He was writhing in pain. His whole body was yellow with a very jaundiced condition because of a serious kidney problem. His eyes were closed. One could tell he was really hurting.<\/p>\n
I went over to him and said, \u201cBrother Vea, I\u2019ve come to visit you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He suddenly stopped writhing and opened his eyes. They were about as yellow as anything I had ever seen. Then he said, \u201cOh, thank you for coming. I knew that you were scheduled for a conference in Tonga, and I knew that the only way to get there was by coming through Honolulu.\u201d He then proceeded, \u201cAll last night I prayed as fervently as I could that some way or another you would come and visit me. As you know, I don\u2019t have much family here. I don\u2019t have a bishop here. I don\u2019t have home teachers here. I don\u2019t have many friends here. I really need a blessing. I\u2019m in a bad way. Would you please bless me?\u201d<\/p>\n
We administered to him. As I began to seal the anointing, I thought that everything would be just fine. With his kind of faith, how could it be otherwise? But, as is so often the case, that wasn\u2019t what the Lord had in mind.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t go into detail, but basically I had the opportunity of telling him what the Lord had in mind for him, of actually specifying what he would be doing in just a short period of time. I was able to tell him that very shortly he would be performing a certain service on the other side that was badly needed. In a way it was a shock to me, but the Spirit was so strong there was no question as to the Lord\u2019s will. When we concluded, he looked up at me and simply said, \u201cThank you, thank you very much. I really wanted to live here, but more than that I want to do my Heavenly Father\u2019s will. I appreciate knowing what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
We left. Hours before the plane I was originally scheduled to come on even arrived, Brother Vea was transferred from this sphere of existence to his next assignment, and he went with a great peace and calm in his heart. What a return on investment!<\/p>\n
I wrote to my wife about the experience. I remember receiving a letter from her saying, \u201cThe folks dropped in tonight, and I shared the letter about Brother Vea with them. I told them I had been thinking that we so often try to figure out why things happen when and how they do and analyze and give reasons\u2014the ins and outs of pressures and politics, and so forth, in the busy schedules and assignments of the Brethren. At the time all seemed to be playing their roles in determining when you needed to hurry and get away on this trip. And yet, with all due respect to the Brethren and their heavy responsibilities, I guess the Lord even uses such things to get His real purposes accomplished. A humble, faithful servant, unknown to most of the world, or to the Church for that matter, needed a blessing and a confirmation and calling from his Father, and our Father saw that he received it when the time was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fifteen-year investment paid off in a quiet, yet stunningly impressive way. And his service paid dividends of joy all through those years and will continue to pay increasing dividends throughout all eternity.<\/p>\n
Invest in service? What greater, what surer investment can we make?<\/p>\n
Let me talk about investments in kindness now. I will relate an incident that happened earlier on this same mission to demonstrate how investing in kindness\u2014that is, being kind to other people and not expressing anger or judgment\u2014goes into an eternal realm, an eternal help-bank, if you will, to be drawn upon by ourselves and by others when the need is there. We have blood banks and financial banks that we put into and draw out of. We understand these types of banks and how they work. I would suggest that just by being kind to other people and by eliminating anger, we move that kindness into a bank\u2014a kindness bank, which is available to help and to save us and other people.<\/p>\n
Now the story:<\/p>\n
My first assignment as a missionary was with a native companion to a very small island of only about 700 people. We were extremely frustrated in tracting as no one seemed to want to let us in. And I didn\u2019t yet have the language well as we had no MTC at that time. Some people would invite us to eat something with them, but they would say, \u201cWe\u2019ll let you eat something as long as you don\u2019t talk about your church or talk religion to us.\u201d We were grateful for the food and their hospitality, and we would ask if we could at least say a blessing. Sometimes we would say a ten-minute blessing to get a few points of doctrine in. It was hard. Mostly they were very kind but very strong in their own churches. They simply did not want to visit with us about our church.<\/p>\n
One particular village seemed very anti-Mormon to us. Many days we would tract all day and not get into a single home. Then one day we did get into a home in this village. It was the only one in the village we ever got into. They seemed nice and invited us back. I guess the ministers and the people there were upset with that family and upset with us, but we went back and back. When we gave them the fourth discussion, they had lots of questions, and it was quite late at night before we got through. The family said, \u201cWe\u2019d like to have you stay here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you, but we must go to our home,\u201d we replied. We lived about two miles away, but there was a section of jungle or bush between their village and ours. Their house was right on the edge of this bush area, and our house was on the other side of it. There was a small trail through the bush that we usually took on our way home.<\/p>\n
They persisted, \u201cWe\u2019d really like you to stay tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
But we said, \u201cNo, we can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
They appealed to us two or three times, and I began to sense that maybe something was wrong. However, since nothing was definite, we didn\u2019t think much about it and left for our house.<\/p>\n
We had gone about a hundred feet from the door to where the bush started when all of a sudden from behind the trees emerged a group of eight or ten real tough young Tongan men. They were drunk. They had clubs, stones, and broken bottles. They formed a sort of semicircle and started to tighten it and move in closer to us. We could see that we were in trouble, for they were obviously bent on hurting us. As they moved closer, my native companion\u2014just like a mother hen\u2014pushed me behind him and said, \u201cNow, here\u2019s what we\u2019ll do. I\u2019m going to count to three. When I say, \u2018three,\u2019 I\u2019m going to yell as loud as I can and charge right in the middle of them. As soon as I do, I want you to turn and run as fast as you can through the bush toward home. It is dark, and they won\u2019t be able to know whether it is both of us or just me because I\u2019ll be swinging my fists and yelling; and by the time they find out it is just me, you\u2019ll be halfway to Vaipoa. You\u2019ll be safe. They won\u2019t come after you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t do that,\u201d I said (even though I wanted to.)<\/p>\n
He replied, \u201cLook, I\u2019m the senior companion. You do what I say. There is no sense in both of us getting hurt.\u201d Then he started, \u201cOne . . . , two. . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, he didn\u2019t get to three, and I didn\u2019t have to make that decision. For on the count of \u201ctwo\u201d there came a huge crash from behind us, and out of the bush from where the trail began came the man that everyone in the island feared more than anyone else. He was the toughest of them all.<\/p>\n
My first impression was, \u201cWe\u2019ve had it now\u2014sealed off from in front and behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he walked right past us and stood in front of us and stopped. (He was a little tipsy himself.) He glared at those eight or ten young men and said, \u201cNo one is going to touch the Mormon missionaries. They are under my protection. Anyone that touches them or even says anything bad about them will answer to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Have you ever watched a cube of butter put into a hot frying pan? It just melts away. Well, that\u2019s what happened. That crowd just melted away. In no time at all they had filtered into the darkness as quietly as they had appeared from it.<\/p>\n
As we walked to our home with him and finally realized we were safe, we asked him, \u201cWhy did you do that? Why did you help us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d he explained, \u201csomeone [another minister, I presumed] called us together, gave us some free home brew, and suggested that we take care of the Mormon missionaries and see that they didn\u2019t come back to town. I attended that meeting,\u201d he said, \u201cand when I heard the name \u2018Mormon,\u201d something started to stir deep down inside me. I got pretty soused, but I didn\u2019t go completely under. Something kept bothering me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then unfolded the following story: \u201cI didn\u2019t know my real parents. I was reared by some relatives. I guess you would call me an orphan. When I was about ten, I went down to Vava\u2019u. I was picked on a lot. It seemed that no one really wanted me. When I got to Vava\u2019u, I met two young men who were teaching a school in English. They wore white shirts and ties. Everyone else kicked me around, but they didn\u2019t. They asked me if I would like to come to their school. I said, \u2018Sure.\u2019 They had a feeling of love and concern for me, something I hadn\u2019t felt much in my life before.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I had gone to school for two or three weeks, they took me out in the ocean and baptized me\u2014put me under the water\u2014and said, \u2018Now you are a Mormon.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know fully what that meant, but I felt good about it. I realized that I was a Mormon.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust shortly after that I had to come back up to this island. I got back here and had no further association with the Church. There weren\u2019t any missionaries here, nor were there any members that I knew of. So, over a period of years I seemed to forget about it. But when the minister said, \u2018You are going to take care of the Mormon missionaries and see that they don\u2019t come back,\u2019 it all came back to me: \u2018I am a Mormon. Mormon missionaries aren\u2019t bad people; they are good people. They loved me. They helped me. They were kind to me.\u2019 I wondered what to do. Then I thought, \u2018I\u2019ll just sit by the house and protect them. I\u2019ll help them.\u2019\u201d And that is what he did. When it got to that critical point, he jumped out, and we didn\u2019t have any more problems with any of those people because they knew we were under his protection.<\/p>\n
Now, I want to ask, \u201cWhat would have happened had those two missionaries twenty years earlier not been kind?\u201d I don\u2019t even know who they were. I don\u2019t even know their names or anything about them other than that they showed love and kindness to a little orphan boy who was kicked around by others. I know that the love and kindness they showed him went into the eternal kindness bank and came out later\u2014twenty years later\u2014to help us, to save us from harm, and, I suppose without too much stretch of the imagination, to save our lives.<\/p>\n
Who was the most grateful\u2014my companion and I that we were not harmed or the young man that he had helped us or the several young men that they had not harmed us or the early-day missionaries that had been kind to him? Who kept track of that act of kindness for all those years?<\/p>\n
Can you see the place of the investment in kindness? Can you see how the doing of a kind deed continues on forever and pays eternal dividends and blesses countless people?<\/p>\n
Oh, how we need to draw on this bank\u2014and how we need to put into it also, for us and for countless others. No act of kindness is ever lost. It is always there and always available. Let us invest in kindness and service.<\/p>\n
Now you might ask, \u201cYes, but there are so many things to do, how do we know where the best place is to invest our time?\u201d Obviously we will want to invest it in the general area of helping others as opposed to helping ourselves\u2014to being kind rather than selfish. But what about specifics? How can we tell? We will want to follow the promptings of the Spirit of the Lord as opposed to the spirit of the world or the evil one. Now, you\u2019ve all heard of the advertisement, \u201cWhen such-and-such a company speaks, everyone listens.\u201d We need to adopt that\u2014and listen when the Lord speaks.<\/p>\n
The following is a short list (probably prepared by some of our seminary people) of some ways we have of discerning the Spirit. Let me read briefly how we will feel when we have the Spirit of the Lord and how we will feel when we have the spirit of the world or the evil one:<\/p>\n
1. You feel happy and calm. You feel unhappy, depressed, confused, frustrated.<\/p>\n
2. You feel full of light. You feel heavy, full of darkness.<\/p>\n
3. Your mind is clear. Your mind is muddled.<\/p>\n
4. Your bosom burns with love for the Lord and for others. You feel empty, hollow, cold inside.<\/p>\n
5. You feel generous. You feel selfish, possessive, self-centered.<\/p>\n
6. Nobody can offend you. Everything anyone does bothers you.<\/p>\n
7. You are very forgiving and kind. You are always on the defensive.<\/p>\n
8. You feel confident in what you do. You become discouraged easily.<\/p>\n
9. You don\u2019t mind anyone seeing what you are doing. You become secretive, evasive.<\/p>\n
10. You feel outgoing, anxious to be with others \u2014 You want to be alone. You avoid others \u2014 especially family members.<\/p>\n
11. You are glad when others succeed. You are envious of what others do and what they have.<\/p>\n
12. You want to make others happy, even those opposed to you. You want to get even and show others up.<\/p>\n
13. You bring out the best and say the best about others. You are critical of others, especially family members and those in authority.<\/p>\n
14. You gladly and willingly perform Church work. You feel hesitant, unworthy, and unwilling to perform Church ordinances.<\/p>\n
15. You feel like praying and reading the scriptures. You don\u2019t want to pray or read scriptures.<\/p>\n
16. You wish you could keep all the Lord\u2019s commandments. You find the commandments of God and rules of the family bothersome, restricting, or senseless.<\/p>\n
17. You feel you have control of your appetites and emotions: food and sleep in moderation, sexual restraint, recreation that is wholesome and moderate; you are calm and control your speech; you feel no anger. You become a slave to your appetites; your emotions become passionate; over indulgence in food, sleep, sex, stimulating entertainment, loud music, strong anger, outspokenness all become part of your character.<\/p>\n
18. You feel a deep desire to help others\u2014usually in a way no one else will know about. You want to make sure all the help you give others is duly noted by them and the world.<\/p>\n
19. You speak and think only good about others. You look for and find evil in others and broadcast it.<\/p>\n
20. You feel sorrow when others have problems and sincerely desire to help them. You question others\u2019 motives and secretly delight in their problems, and say, \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m not that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
21. You realize that your thoughts and your actions are open to God. You feel that what you do and think is only your business and no one else knows or cares.<\/p>\n
I think that if we will listen to those types of spirits, we will have a clear understanding of when we\u2019re being guided by the Spirit of the Lord, by the Spirit of light and of truth, and when we\u2019re being guided by the spirit of the world. Investing in things that the spirit of the world guides us in creates uncertainty and will not pay off well. But investing in things that the Lord guides us in creates certainty and assurance and will pay off handsomely.<\/p>\n
I plead with all of us, then, to invest our time in those things, in those areas, with those people, that the Spirit of the Lord prompts us to do.<\/p>\n
The opportunities are all around us, but we must listen for them and then act upon them.<\/p>\n