We who have been baptized and confirmed have the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, but sometimes we do things that drive the Spirit away.  Wouldn’t it be a marvelous thing if we possessed a monitor that would tell us whether or not the Spirit was with us?

Last night I learned that we do.  In the night I was taught some very important lessons about the Holy Ghost.  I awoke at about 2:30 in the morning and the lessons were there in my mind.

As I got into bed the previous evening the thought came to me that the Holy Ghost had helped me on numerous, identifiable occasions that day.  I got back up, got a paper and pen, and began listing them.  I found 8 instances when I was helped and guided by the Holy Ghost.  I have no doubt but what there were many more occasions when I was guided, but was unaware.

When I awoke in the night I was taught how I could know if the Holy Ghost was with me or not.  I knew that I was going to be giving a talk on the subject of the Holy Ghost the next day, so the lesson is obviously one that others need to hear.

I learned that the Holy Ghost wants to be around me as much (or as little) as my wife wants to be around me.

I was with a man yesterday who was cross and abrupt with his wife.  His wife left.  She didn’t want to be around him.  Suddenly I didn’t, either.  At that moment I’m sure the Holy Ghost left him, too.

In Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 the Lord says, “…I will go before your face  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

The man that I was with yesterday didn’t know it, but he was standing there all alone with no protections or guidance.  He had received the gift of the Holy Ghost, but it had left him for a while.  His wife came back later, but unless he apologized, she still might not have wanted to be around him.  Maybe he did apologize.  If so, then I can imagine his wife forgiving him, and being happy to be around him again.

The Holy Ghost is like that.  Can the Holy Ghost guide a person who is angry?  If a person is unkind, will the Holy Ghost be with him?  If a man thinks unclean thoughts, is the Holy Ghost with him, or is he standing there all alone?

Joseph Smith once had an argument with his wife.  He went to resume translating, and not a word came.  He went out and prayed, came back, found his wife, apologized to her, resumed his efforts to translate, and the words came.

What happened there?  Joseph had allowed himself to be unkind.  His wife left.  She didn’t want to be around him.  The Spirit left.  The Holy Ghost didn’t want to be around him, either.  He was left alone.

But as quick as he repented, as quickly as he asked forgiveness, his wife was once again happy to be around him—and so was the Holy Ghost.

Elder Boyd K. Packer has said, “I have learned that two people can live together in love without a cross word ever passing between them.”

In our 44 ½ years of marriage, my wife has never said a cross word to me.  I don’t think that I’ve ever said a cross word to her.

But what if she knew all my thoughts?  Would she sometimes be ashamed, and not want to be around me?  Did the Holy Ghost leave me at those times, too?

What if I was looking at some things or doing some things that would make my wife ashamed?  Would she want to be around me?  Would the Holy Ghost want to be around me?

What if I was ashamed of myself, and repented?  Just that quick, my wife and the Holy Ghost would want to be around me again.

As I get older I find that I’m getting better and better at listening to the Holy Ghost.  I’ve learned that when I’m consistently kind to everyone, and am in control of all my thoughts, then the Holy Ghost is with me.

A verse in the book of Helaman has always amazed me.  I have marveled over it many, many times.  It says that the brothers “Nephi and Lehi, and many of their brethren…(had) many revelations daily.”  (Helaman 11:23).

I’ve wondered how that could be.  And it wasn’t just Nephi, the prophet, who was receiving many revelations daily:  It was also his brother, and many other men.

I’ve wished, “Oh, that I could be like that!”

In the middle of the night the Spirit said to me, “Remember the list you made as you got into bed?  You listed eight times where you knew the Holy Ghost had helped you that day.  Weren’t those all revelations?  You are having many revelations daily, and most of the time you aren’t even aware.  This is revelation number nine.  And those thoughts that I gave you about the Holy Ghost wanting to be around you as much as your wife does is revelation number 10.”

One of the duties of the Holy Ghost is to bring things to our remembrance.  Another is to warn us, and to protect us.  Last night a near accident was brought to my remembrance.  This would have to constitute revelation number 11 that I received in the past 24 hours.

In this instance I was driving up Ladd Canyon on my way home from a Church meeting.  There were two lanes of highway going in my direction.  It was cold, and the road was icy.  In my rear-view mirror I saw a car approaching me rapidly from behind.  He’s going too fast, I thought, and he’s going to spin out of control just when he gets alongside my car.

I sped up just enough to keep that car from passing me.  A few seconds later I watched in my rear-view mirror as the car began slipping and swerving all over the highway, and then headed off the road and up an embankment where it came to an abrupt stop in the deep snow.

What if I had been angry with someone as I was driving up Ladd Canyon that day?  What if I had been cross with my wife?  What if I had been thinking pornographic thoughts?  Could the Spirit have warned me of what was about to happen?  Would my car have just been damaged, or would I have been injured or killed?  Perhaps the Holy Ghost saved the lives of two drivers that day.

Do we know ahead of time when we’re going to need the help of the Holy Ghost?—Almost never.

How necessary is it that we always be in a condition to be able to have the Holy Ghost’s guidance?—It’s critical.

Can I risk being cross with my wife just this once because I know that she’s wrong and I’m right?—It’s a big risk, and she’s not going to want to be around me.  If she doesn’t want to be around me, I can know that the Holy Ghost doesn’t, either.

The most important thing is to get, and to keep, the Spirit.  Pay attention to your wives, men.  They’re the best monitors that I know of to tell you whether or not you have the Spirit.

Postscript:

As I read this to Marjorie, she replied thoughtfully, “Do you know what I have really been appreciating lately?  It’s that when I say something, you consider it.  It doesn’t mean that you always follow it, but you give it consideration.”

Obviously, I haven’t always done that.  What greater compliment could a man give his wife?