PROVO — Observation and observance are critical spiritual gifts that unlock doors to discernment and success, Elder David A. Bednar said Tuesday during a devotional at Brigham Young University.

Students should learn to be "quick to observe," said Elder Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"Your future success and happiness will in large measure be determined by this spiritual capacity," he said. It is "vitally important for you and for me in the world in which we do now and will yet live."

Elder Bednar said the word "observe" has two primary uses in scripture. One use means to look or to see or to notice. The other suggests to obey or to keep, as in keep the commandments.

"Thus when we are 'quick to observe' we promptly look or notice and obey," he said.

Those who develop the ability to observe are able to learn lessons from those around them, learn to discern the needs of others and better recognize good and evil. They also fulfill a prerequisite for the spiritual gift of discernment.

"Discernment is a light of protection and direction in a world that grows increasingly dark," Elder Bednar said. "In these latter days, you and I can press forward safely and successfully through the mist of darkness — and have a clear sense of spiritual direction. Discernment is so much more than recognizing right from wrong. It helps us to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, the important from the unimportant and the necessary from that which is merely nice."

Elder Bednar said the gift of discernment helps those who cultivate it to detect hidden error and evil in themselves and others. It also helps them find and bring forth the good in themselves and others.

Anyone can obtain these gifts, he added.

Elder Bednar openly admitted one of his examples of discerning other people might spark controversy on campus. He told a story about a returned LDS missionary who observed, over a period of time, that the girlfriend he hoped to marry did not remove her additional earrings after LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled women and girls in the church to wear only one earring in each ear.

"This was a valuable piece of information for this young man," Elder Bednar said, "and he felt unsettled about her nonresponsiveness to a prophet's pleading. For this and other reasons, he ultimately stopped dating the young woman because he was looking for an eternal companion who had the courage to promptly and quietly obey the counsel of the prophet in all things and at all times. The young man was 'quick to observe' that the young woman was not 'quick to observe.' "

Elder Bednar said he knew the illustration might lead to letters in BYU's campus newspaper, the Daily Universe, about the young man being too judgmental or about Elder Bednar focusing on a young woman's mistake instead of a young man's.