In his book with the above title, Henry B. Eyring (now in the First Presidency of the Church) wrote:
” You and I can do better if we do not stay long with what our students see as the source of their doubts. We must listen long enough to show that we care, that we understand, and we are not troubled by what troubles them. But their problem does not lie in what they think they see; it lies in what they cannot yet see. Think about that a moment—their problem does not lie in what they think they see; it lies in what they cannot yet see. And so we do our best if we turn the conversation soon to things of the heart, those changes of the heart that open spiritual eyes.
As nearly as I can tell, you cannot help someone choose to have a softer heart unless he or she feels your love. That is hard, especially if you feel a knot of anger or fear inside you as you listen to the doubts spilled out, sometimes with tears, but more often with a touch of defiance.
The best help that ever came to me for that moment came on a night years ago. . . I talked with President Romney, as we drove along, about all the changes in morals, in science, in education, in the sophistication of young people, and the changes in their families—and on and on. And that is when I repeated my question: “Do you think what president Clark taught (in 1938) still describes the way we should approach our students today?”
President Romney chuckled, sat silent for a moment, and then said, “Oh, I think President Clark could see our time—and beyond.”
With that assurance, which the Spirit confirmed to me that night was true, it is easy to see the student sitting in front of you not as a doubter, but as a seeker of truth. You can ignore the attitude of challenge and see instead a person who craves faith, who has seen manifestations of divine power, even as he has not recognized them, and who wants not just to believe in those powers but to call them forth in his own life.
. . . We can talk with our students as if they want to see the spiritual things by which they have been surrounded but which are now out of their view. We can treat them as seekers who would want a softened heart if it would allow them to see spiritual truth.
I can make a promise to you: if you treat them as seekers, they will feel that you love them, and that may awaken a hope in them that they could have a softer heart. It may not happen every time and it may not last. But it will happen often and sometimes it will last. And all of them will at least remember that you believed in the best in them—their inheritance as children of God.” ~ Henry B. Eyring, ‘To Draw Closer to God’ p.143-146, Deseret Book 1997
