0:00:00 - 0:00:24 I want to talk about incidental value in this idea that tremendous things are mixed up all around us. And uh we don't, we don't notice them because we're, we're so uh flooded with things that we perceive to be of low value that we miss the things that are of really high value. And so this is uh a flower 0:00:23 - 0:00:42 . I think it's an orchid, but it is my wife's flower and she's nursed this thing for years. Why say that actually let me tell you the truth. So she was gifted this thing. I don't know how many years ago it was a long time ago. And I, you know, it's one of these things like, oh, hey, I got you this flower 0:00:41 - 0:01:05 and you, you know, you expect it to die pretty quickly. It turns out that not only did not die. Um It's, it's thrived here, which is crazy because it's like a swamp flower. And um we live in the, the cold wilderness. So um I was just walking around. Uh So she's done very little to maintain this thing 0:01:05 - 0:01:26 . She's just kept it in a, in a pot and, and you know, you have to water these things in a weird way. I think she just puts ice cubes on it and it trickles out. But, um, it's amazing. It's doing fine. I don't think she ever feeds this thing or anything. And, um, uh, it, it blooms, uh, not like every 0:01:26 - 0:01:51 day or anything but on a regular basis, surprisingly frequent basis. And, um, so anyway, I was doing my morning routine, uh, and just kind of like in my little zone in my little world that I do. Early morning, I walk by here to, to get some eggs real quick. And uh I saw the flower and it just, it stuck 0:01:51 - 0:02:13 out from the background. You can see we've got our winter supply of wood stacked here on the porch. And um I mean, it, this is like stunning. This is, of course, this is nothing to do with justice. But you know, I'm looking at like the little toys that one of my kids left and um and the this flower just 0:02:13 - 0:02:35 like just popping right out of the background. And uh it just, it looks like it's, it's more beautiful than, than a painting could capture. And I was just staring at the details and just kind of stunned by it. So, um I wanted to just share some quick thoughts about this because it just triggered this 0:02:35 - 0:03:03 flood of things and I'm not gonna get into the flood um cause I have things to do. But um so sorry, I'm trying to dodge Children. Um ok, so um I wanted to tell a story. There, there are a million different dimensions we could explore with this, but I wanted to tell a story uh about money to, to convey 0:03:02 - 0:03:27 this. Um because that flower, it's visible but it's not perceptible by many people. I mean, I pointed out to my kids and they're all like whoa, but it was sitting there, they could see it, their eyes work, but could they appreciate it. And again, we could talk about this for, for hours, but I'm not going 0:03:27 - 0:03:52 to today, although it'll feel that way for most of you. So, um, there's tremendous value in, um, in things all around us, we think of heaven as something that's gonna be way better than it is here and it is, that's accurate, but in some ways that's not true at all. It's funny how things can be accurate 0:03:51 - 0:04:14 and also not true at all. But, but so it is, um, it turns out the biggest difference between here and heaven and I'm telling you from things I know that I've experienced. I mean, there are things that are super different, like colors, it's just so much richer there. It's not, I don't have the ability 0:04:13 - 0:04:34 to describe the difference. It's just so much richer there and, but you look and you see and you're like, oh yeah, this is red, this is green, but um, it may as well be something completely unrelated because it's so much better. And um, and there are things that are not there that, that we would say 0:04:34 - 0:05:02 are bad things that make life harder or less joyous here. But the biggest difference between here and there is in how people value what is. And the amazing thing is there is nothing limiting you from bringing that into your life here and now, and you can acquire, develop and apply that same sense of 0:05:01 - 0:05:28 value here. And because there are so many similarities between here and there, guess what that means a great deal of the joy that is available in heaven is available to you here. And now right now, and I do not care what the particulars of your life situation may be. What I said is true. So and that's 0:05:28 - 0:06:04 because God stuffs so many things of such great value into every single human life. It's amazing. So um everything's oriented so that we have every opportunity to learn um a better valuation. But the difference is not namely in the, the, the difference doesn't mainly consist of what it consists of how 0:06:04 - 0:06:28 we see it, what we perceive it to be the value we perceive in it. So, um so here's a story and and on the one hand, I apologize for using a monetary example. But but on the other, again, there's a million different ways we could explore this. And I'm choosing this one for the particulars of the story 0:06:28 - 0:06:51 and how I imagine it will assist people to get a few things that are important. So, years ago, uh I found myself suddenly in a situation where I had a whole lot of money, a whole lot of money that I had nothing good to spend on. So, um, my wife and I were talking about different options. We might have 0:06:50 - 0:07:12 to invest it in certain ways, et cetera. And um I don't remember exactly how much money this was, but it was six figures which, you know, you, maybe that's not a lot of money for you. I don't know, maybe it's a fortune for you. It was for me, this was an unexpected boon and we found ourselves with at 0:07:12 - 0:07:38 least 100 and 20,000. It may have been more than that. I don't remember. And so I said to my wife, uh, look, we've looked into things we might do with this, uh, to grow it as wise stewards. But frankly, I don't really see anything at this time. That, that makes sense that way. And, uh, years ago, we 0:07:38 - 0:08:01 were in a position where things were looking pretty stable Vocationally and otherwise, and I said, you know, I really would like to find somebody who needs this money more than we do. So why don't we pray? And um, see if the Lord's got somebody who needs this. And so my wife agreed, we talked about it 0:08:01 - 0:08:25 and we prayed and then out of nowhere. There was a, a couple. Now I'm going to try to anonymize this a bit by removing details from the story. Um but I didn't know these people. Uh I somehow had digitally connected with the husband at some point, but I didn't know this person at all. I never talked to 0:08:25 - 0:08:49 them on the phone or anything. And uh again, reducing detail, something had happened in their family and they had a huge emergency and it was very clear that their long term earnings potential would be severely decreased for the rest of their lives. And they had kids who were young and I saw an opportunity 0:08:48 - 0:09:16 where that money could significantly uh benefit them by providing changes to their situation that would vastly reduce their cost of living for for the duration. That sounds weird and ambiguous. But I'm just trying to reduce the details, but that was, that was the the situation. And so I contacted these 0:09:16 - 0:09:35 folks and I said, oh, at first I talked to my wife, obviously, we, we prayed about this and I said, all right, this is great. And you know, there's always a concern what's gonna happen if, if people end up spending money differently than you would and whatever. And we felt that there was a way to handle 0:09:35 - 0:00:00 this so that uh no matter what happened outside of our hands, we would feel confident in the choices we were making that, that this would be uh an acceptable expression to God of our gratitude for how he had taken care of us so far in our lives. Um in so many ways that, that extend far beyond money. 0:00:00 - 0:10:28 And we wanted to be in a position where we would have the confidence to know that we had lived our lives the right way, no matter what happened to us financially in the future, uh which it turns out is, has been a um a good, a good policy for us that has paid um many emotional dividends, if not financial 0:10:27 - 0:11:01 anyway. So, um I reached out to this family and I, this part's gonna be hard to anonymize. Basically, I said, I did not reveal, uh I said I wanted to help, but I didn't reveal that I wanted to help to a crazy extent. Um And so they thought that they were just dealing with a run of the mill situation 0:11:00 - 0:11:27 of someone reaching out to help. Um But I asked them what their plan was if they had any specific ideas on not just short term minimization of inconvenience, but long term maximization of well being. And of course, I didn't phrase it that way, but this is a, again, I'm trying to describe this in, in 0:11:27 - 0:11:52 anonymous terms and I tried to help them along into that line of thinking and asking them, um you know, if there were no monetary limits, what do you think the best situation would be and what would you do if you had, you know, a blank check and the answers just kept coming back as we just want people 0:11:52 - 0:12:14 to give us money. And, um, when pressed the answers turned into, basically, we're going to do very expensive things right now to make ourselves as comfortable as we can right now, even if that makes us even worse off in the long term than we already are. And again, I, I tried to help steer this as much 0:12:13 - 0:12:38 as you can at a distance not knowing people at all. Um, but I, in the end, uh, they were pretty stuck in their idea that this was the, the way to try to, to, um, basically maximize short term pleasure even at the expense of long term well being. And so, um, that was not something that I could support 0:12:38 - 0:13:06 financially and to this day, I'm sure these people have no idea what they, uh, turn down. Um, because I, 100% my wife and I were ready to write a check to total strangers for every dollar we had above what we needed, which happened to be at least 100 and $20,000 and we were not rich. That was, um, that 0:13:06 - 0:13:33 was, uh, that was years and years and years and years and years and years worth of savings at, uh, my salary at the time that, that was pre-tax, at least as much as a year salary at that time, I believe. Um, so when I say it was a boon, it was a lot of money out of nowhere. So, um, anyway, it, it never 0:13:32 - 0:13:57 happened and, and, uh, that makes me really sad because it, it feels good to help people in any way. It feels a lot better to help people in major ways that, that maybe, uh, not only you could do but you know what I mean? Like, like when you give your widows might and you're, you're all in but you don't 0:13:57 - 0:14:18 have that much to give. That's obviously worth a lot to God in God's eyes. I mean, and it makes you feel good. Not that, that's why you do it, but you feel good because you know, you're doing your best to help others and that's a good thing. Um But when you actually have a butt load of things to give 0:14:17 - 0:14:38 and you're willing to give them all down to the Dregs. Um And there's nowhere to put that, that doesn't feel very good at all. Um And it would feel way better if there was a place where it could be received. Ok. So what does this have to do with anything? I started the video with? Well, the good that's 0:14:38 - 0:15:02 scattered through life. It's not just things and situations, it's not flowers only or the beautiful sunrises and chirping birds, which is a blessing and a curse in my situation because I have a garden and they eat my stuff. Um but it's also people, it's also people and, uh, we have to get this into our 0:15:02 - 0:15:22 brains that being created in the image of God. We ought to be looking for the greatest blessings tied to people, whether that's giving or receiving. So the beauty and the goodness that's hidden all around in life. It's just scattered. You know, it's rare. That flower is a weird thing. I showed you the 0:15:22 - 0:15:46 background. It's just like, you know, um, clutter, just toys and, and stuff you couldn't see. Just the kids had left a bunch of stuff on the couch too. Um, the windows are a little dirty, you know, but here's this beautiful tropical flower in the middle of a very cold state. I it's, it's a weird thing 0:15:45 - 0:16:10 and it doesn't belong and yet it still doesn't stick out enough to people to get them to pause and think. Wow, this is, there's something to this. This is beautiful and um so many things are beautiful and we miss it, but so many people are good and they, and it's rare. Ok? It's like a flower, a tropical 0:16:09 - 0:16:38 flower on a window sill in Montana is not what you expect to see, but they're much more numerous than we think. And that love that people are willing to flow from heaven to earth. It exists now it exists in people outside of you and you have to learn to see that and receive it. But it also exists inside 0:16:37 - 0:17:04 of you, at least in potential. But in many of you, it it's there, it just needs a channel to flow. The people who have it, need a channel to flow to you as you receive it from wherever. Or if you have it already, you need a channel to flow it out to others. And God is providing that today and it's a 0:17:04 - 0:17:27 beautiful thing and he will continue to expand those channels with time. And there's a beautiful scripture in the book of Mormon where Nephi has this vision and an angel comes and he shows him the tree of life. And Nephi says, what's this? And um the angel calls the love of God the most beautiful thing 0:17:27 - 0:17:56 . And it is, and he says this line about it, shedding itself abroad, how through the hearts of men. So it's through humans that, that flows and it's a beautiful thing and we can, we can understand money. You know, that's something we deal with. And we, we tend to not today so much, but we tend to have 0:17:55 - 0:18:18 ways of coming to know the value of that through work and through losing it. So through how we gain it and how we lose it and what we get with it. We tend to understand the value of that, but all good things have value. And a also you come to learn the, the value of that in the same way as you do the 0:18:18 - 0:18:44 value of money. It's through the price you pay and through what you receive and through what you lose. And uh anyway, we need to get a whole lot better at recognizing the value of God's love and in all the different ways it can manifest and especially in and through people including yourself.