Speeches
Reversing the View: Brett Anderson’s Challenge to Look Upward, Forward, and Outward
As the featured Forum speaker on Oct. 24, tech entrepreneur and pilot Brett Anderson challenged the Southern Virginia University community to reconsider the direction of their thoughts and attention. Drawing on his experiences in the air and in everyday life, he encouraged attendees to shift their focus from looking “inward, backward, and downward” during personal struggles or moments of stress to instead looking “upward, forward, and outward” with faith and purpose.
Because cockpit noise often prevents spoken communication, Anderson explained, pilots rely on hand signals and must focus intently to stay aligned. In a similar way, he said, spiritual clarity comes when individuals intentionally refocus their gaze.
“We need to reverse the pattern of looking inward, backward, and downward instead of looking upward to God,” Anderson said. “That should be our number one focus–looking upward to God, forward for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled, and then outward to serve and bless others.”
To illustrate how easily self-concern can cloud perspective, Anderson shared two personal experiences that helped him realize his tendency to focus on himself instead of the Lord. The first occurred while he was serving as a photographer on a demanding pioneer trek. After losing his brand-new sunglasses and later finding them smashed, he grew discouraged. A friend, whose pristine truck had been badly damaged on the same trek, noticed Anderson’s frustration and offered the same counsel Anderson had given him earlier.
“He put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Don’t worry, Brett. The Lord always pays you back way more than you lose,’” Anderson recalled. “It’s easy to give that advice, but for some reason we think it applies to everybody else and not us. I truly believed it when I said it to my friend, but it didn’t come from the heart because I didn’t believe it for myself.”
His second moment of clarity came during a temple visit just before a planned trip to Hawaii. Hoping to avoid getting sick, he intentionally sat in the back row, only to have a friend sit directly behind him and begin coughing. Anderson became so consumed with anxiety and constantly glancing backward that he missed the entire purpose of his visit.
“When I realized what I had done, that I had missed the entire reason for going to the temple, I was really discouraged and spent the rest of the time looking at my feet,” he said. “It was then that I noticed a pattern–I was literally focused inward and backward, and then looking down.”
Finally, Anderson stressed the importance of looking outward to serve and bless others. He shared the story of a bishop who, after more than 20 years of effort, was ready to give up on ministering to an inactive family. His ward clerk, however, issued a gentle but powerful challenge: wait until the Lord had given up on the families before he did. Humbled, the bishop continued his efforts, and years later, the family returned to church activity.
“How many times do we try to outsmart the Lord?” Anderson asked. “How many times do we think, ‘I know I should read my scriptures, or pray, or serve someone, but that can wait’?. But I promise you, if you put the Lord first and look forward to His promises, they will happen and He will bless you. Look upward, look forward, and look outward.”
The event opened with a performance of “Symphonic Variations on Amazing Grace” by the university’s symphonic band directed by Dr. Michael Black, and concluded with the traditional singing of “Love One Another.”