Meridian Magazine :: Can Do Youth: The Midas Touch

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The Midas Touch
By Vickey Pahnke-Taylor

Editor's note: If you've always wanted to sail the Mexican Riviera, you can do it in the company of Vickey Pahnke-Taylor, John Bytheway, and Meridian Magazine. Click here for details. And look for Vickey at BYU Education Week in August, where she will be performing in the De Jong Concert Hall and at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Much of our world turns around money. The twist on the Golden Rule that goes: “He who has the gold makes the rules” is more true in many circles than we would like to think. Some of our conversational vocabulary borrows on imagery of money, with such sayings as: “Laughing all the way to the bank,” “You can bank on it,” “She has more dollars than sense,” and — when someone seems to effortlessly get gain — “He has the Midas touch.”

We have a sixteen-year-old son who recently has begun his journey into the world of jobs, driver’s license, ownership of a clunker car (with attendant insurance payments, and responsibility for fuel and oil change costs), and other money concerns. We can teach him some things, but others he will learn for himself — some the easy way and some (most likely) the hard way. It is becoming more real to him these days that money is important, but it cannot rule his world. Interesting learning curves!

The key to the whole money — or lack-of-it — thing is to have the best perspective. And that perspective is to utilize the temporal blessings of this world to assist in bringing light and assistance to others as we help our families, our friends, our Church, and gain insight into temporal versus eternal commodities. Just as many who have great amounts of earthly bounty turn inward, acting selfishly and pompous, others recognize those blessings as a means of making a difference for good in this world. How grateful we should be for those who do so!

Elder Dallin H. Oaks shared this thought regarding money:

There is nothing inherently evil about money…The critical difference is the degree of spirituality we exercise in viewing, evaluating, and managing the things of this world and our experiences in it (October General Conference, 1985).

This gives a new perspective on the Midas touch.

Tips for Using Money Wisely

To have the golden touch, so to speak, can be a huge blessing. As long we largely determine that it works for us, and not the other way around, we can continue to be prudent in all our dealings and create habits of wise stewardship over the worldly goods that are ours. It can be the means to many good and righteous ends, without doing us in!

Young people — as young as 12 years or as young as 112 years — can set some goals to better understand how to utilize the temporal gifts of this world, and more humbly gain appreciation for what we have. As we remember the counsel given in the Book of Mormon, “If laborers in Zion labor for money, they shall perish” (2 Ne 26:31.) we can better focus on financial priorities. We can be wise. We can determine to take to heart Hugh Nibley’s thoughtful remark: “The body serves us best when we are least aware of it, and so it is with money.”

Add to that this counsel from Elder Franklin D. Richards, “In many respects, the real test of a man is his attitude towards his earthly possessions. A person who places earthly possessions in the scales against the things of God evidences little understanding of eternal values” (April 1979 General Conference).

Here are a few qualifiers for the acquiring and utilizing of earthly riches:

“Seek after wisdom rather than… material things and pleasures… Frequently, when we seek after wisdom rather than riches, the Lord blesses us with wisdom and riches as he did King Solomon. When this occurs, we have the great opportunity and responsibility to use our material wealth in the building up of the kingdom of God.” (Elder Franklin D. Richards) First things first: Work to obtain the things of eternity. If blessed with earthly wealth, use that spirituality gained to choose wisely how to spend the temporal bounty.
Pay tithing. President N. Eldon Tanner taught this: “Paying tithing is discharging a debt to the Lord… If we obey this commandment, we are promised that we will “prosper in the land.” This prosperity consists of more than material goods — it may include enjoying good health and vigor of mind. It includes family solidarity and spiritual increase.” Just do it.
Keep eternal perspective, during times of temporal plenty and temporal insufficiencies. Elder Marvin J. Ashton cautioned that “Money in the lives of Latter-day Saints should be used as a means of achieving eternal happiness.” And when the money isn’t there, we can place our trust in the Lord and ask for peace as we struggle through difficult times. Not easy, but much more calming.
Save if at all possible. Saving pennies as a child to buy a favorite ice cream, dollars as a teen for a mission or for college, or a larger percentage as an adult for a “rainy day” is wise and freeing. Brigham Young put it simply and beautifully: “If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.” Amen.
Avoid debt. Many years before credit cards were a norm for much of the world, the prophets warned against debt. Placing trust in our leader’s words and then following their counsel will save us much unhappiness and undue bondage. As President Joseph F. Smith said, “Get out of debt and keep out of debt, and then you will be financially as well as spiritually free.” Phew!
Grow in financial strength. This is not an endorsement to concentrate on monetary gain, but rather to internalize this counsel that came from Elder Franklin D. Richards, “Financial strength is realized by keeping God’s commandments, by the payment of an honest tithe, by developing habits of work, by being thrifty and living within one’s income, as well as by using ones’ means wisely.” Wisdom!
Remember to express gratitude. “We should confess His hand in all things. Ingratitude is one of our great sins” (President Ezra Taft Benson). It is because of the Lord that we have anything — anything — at all. Our very breath is lent to us (see Mosiah 2:21). We do not achieve anything without Him.

So my son has a world of lessons ahead of him as he gains understanding of this world’s goods versus the goods of eternity. In this, I pray he learns wisdom in his youth. We are here on earth to have a mortal experience. But by remembering that we are spiritual beings, that all things are spiritual to the Lord, and that we have the capacity to deal properly with the things of this world, we might just have the Midas touch — whether we count our finances in the tens of dollars or in the millions of dollars.

And by taking care of what we have, and prayerfully learning how to utilize it, we will not lose focus on the things of eternal value. Now, that might just be the real Midas touch!

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About the Author:

Vickey is a songwriter/producer, vocalist, and professional speaker, and has performed and/or taught in numerous venues. Her compositions include the theme songs for the Special Olympics program (state by state selection), the Make A Wish Foundation, the Especially For Youth program of the Church, and the Families In Focus program. She is a Billboard award winning songwriter, with hundreds of songs to her credit.

She has enjoyed participation in the Church Education System’s youth and family programs for almost two decades, having taught for Know Your Religion, Campus Education Week at BYU-Provo, BYU-Hawaii, and BYU- Idaho, Especially for Youth, Best of Especially for Youth, and BYU Conferences and Workshops.

Studying musical theater at BYU, she has used that learning experience in the music field as a way of enhancing the teaching of correct principles. Her latest gospel works include the collaborative projects "Women at the Well" with Kenneth Cope and "My Beloved Christ" with Randy Kartchner. Vickey has contributed to numerous EFY albums over the years and as a chapter contributor for many yearly EFY books; and as contributor the best selling LDS compilation, Sunshine for the Latter Day Saint Teenage Soul. She authored the book K.I.S.S.: Gospel Guidelines for Better Relationships for Bookcraft Publishing Company. For two years she was editor and columnist for "Gems for Youth" on the web at LDSWorld.com, formerly the Church’s electronic arm.

Vickey’s performance/teaching experience includes venues from participation with a nationally touring Repertory Theater Company to Symphony Halls to corporate conventions throughout the U.S. She has been commissioned to write scripts for the Faith & Values Channel; and created and directed the Bi-Centennial celebration for the Hampton Roads, Virginia area.

She holds a masters degree in interpersonal communications and currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is married to Dean Taylor and together they have eight children and two grandchildren.