A couple of years ago I was kneeling bedside at the end of a long day. I was troubled, concerned that I lacked sufficient wisdom to carry out those things that I felt mandated to do. My self-confidence was weakened by worldly pressures that made me doubt my resolve, and even my vision, to move forward with the work upon which my hands had been enlisted to accomplish. I found myself in tears expressing to the Lord profound sorrow for not having sufficient wisdom to understand what He would have me do. So many in the world disagreed with my effort, it seemed obvious that I was not wise enough, could not judge well enough, to know what was best.

After the Lord listened to my self-deprecation for a time, I felt His presence, almost to hear His voice in loving chastisement. He reminded me that it was not my wisdom that came up with the plan I was to carry out, not my judgments or understandings that could discern men’s motivations or the the Lord’s instructions and purposes. It was by His power. My self-doubt was forgetting the Lord’s divine hand, forgetting that it was not my wisdom. It was His light that brought me knowledge, even the little I know of God and man, the opening of my eyes to understanding and true wisdom through His eyes. I repented and re-committed once again to recognize His gifts and to remember from whence they come, to heed the promptings of His Holy Spirit and take no personal credit for His guidance. I committed to doubt no more those things which I am taught through His Spirit.

“By my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.”

Doctrine and Covenants 76:9-10

In the scriptures we learn that great wisdom is granted from on high and while the wisdom of man will fail, Heaven-sent wisdom will not. “And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught. For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:9-10).

My father, Richard Malcolm, had great gifts in creating devices that improved the human condition. In his lifetime he held seventeen patents and engineered many other products in various industries from sporting goods to irrigation technology. While attending the high school from which he never graduated he invented his first steam engine. He spent most of his adult life developing sprinkler technology and water saving irrigation equipment that revolutionized agriculture and landscape watering. I know that he would be the first to admit that he was undereducated for the fields in which he worked. Nevertheless, as he explained to me, he would see something in his mind, some idea to solve a problem or create a unique device, and focus on it until it was reality, from concept to creation. I call that inspiration.

I believe that men like my father receive their light from on high so they can serve to the advancement of God’s children. While the act of creation can be greatly enhanced by the application of the textbook, there is no greater source for creative power than the God who created us all.

After the passing of my father in 1992, my brother, David Malcolm, continued the family business, which focused primarily on water saving technology for agriculture and landscaping. Up until that time his role in the company had been in marketing, and his experience in the laboratory of my father’s creativity had mostly been in his shadow. David told me that he did not feel at first up to the task when problems would arise that would normally be resolved by my father. Then, while working on some thing that really challenged his education and experience, “the eyes of his understanding” seemed to be opened and he felt as if our dad’s hand was on his shoulder showing him the way. Whether by angelic visitation or gift of the Spirit I know not, but I know this much, my good brother received light and knowledge from on high to continue a work that our father was inspired to achieve.

David has since gone on to apply this work to other water saving technology. In recent years he has developed a whole line of low-flow shower-heads that provide a full shower experience while saving water, which is specifically relevant in our day of drought and water shortages around the globe. What was my father’s work became my brother’s work, and both enlightened by God. These and other technologies are gifts from God given through men and women inspired to make the world a better place.

As in the world of invention and innovation where the best ideas are Heaven sent, so is the testimony of Christ a gift that comes only by our Heavenly Father. As Peter received His witness by the Father at Cæsarea Philippi, so all true prophets and followers of Christ have received and testified by that same Spirit. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Alma and others knew Christ before His day and only testified of Him by divine witness. The apostles of the Lamb knew Him in the flesh but witnessed Him in the Spirit. In these latter-days only by the Spirit of God could the Prophet Joseph Smith bear witness, “The Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened,… And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of Him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of Him: That He lives! For we saw Him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that He is the Only Begotten of the Father— That by Him, and through Him, and of Him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:19, 22-24).

I add my witness to the many witnesses before me, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that He lives, even as the Father, and yes we too are joint heirs to His kingdom as sons and daughters of the Most High. It is by our Heavenly Father that every witness of Christ comes to understanding. As we lift our eyes and humble hearts heavenward to He who knows and shares all, our understanding is quickened and we are lifted above the frailty of human thought and brought to see and know His ways. As we see the light through His eyes nothing is beyond our capacity as sons and daughters of God, recognizing all our gifts come from Him the creator of all, and He who was crucified that we may be saved. Of these things I bear my Heaven-sent witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.