45. For that which you keep will be lost, and only as much as you give away can you keep forever.

46. What is Zion? said the Lord, Yea, where is the people ready to receive me at my coming?

And when the man had written down the worlds of his dream, he trembled in fear, for he knew that he was guilty. He said to his wife, "If the Lord sent an angel to gather the people of Zion, would he come to us, here in our fine house, with all our possessions? I fear that our house is a fortress we have built to keep the Lord out of our lives."

To his surprise, his wife suddenly wept. "Oh, my husband!" she said, "I have had a dream every night for a week, but I was ashamed to tell you. In my dream we were about to buy a new Mercedes. We gave the money to the salesman, but when he handed us the keys to the car they burned our hands, and we couldn't hold them.

"So we took back the money and went to the bishop, and said, 'We were going to buy a Mercedes, but the keys burn our hands. So instead we'll buy a cheaper car that is only as much as we need. Here's the rest of the money; because we were going to spend it on vanity, we know that it's more than we need. Therefore it's our surplus; give it to the poor and needy. Also, here is the title to our old car; give it to someone who needs it.'

"And in my dream the bishop said, 'I was praying for help, because yesterday I saw the bishop of another ward weeping because his ward is very poor, and though his people work hard, they never have enough money to make ends meet. He told me that there was a worthy young woman in his ward who couldn't go to college because of her family's poverty. He told me that there were children in his ward whose parents could never take them to the doctor, because they had no money to pay. He told me of families with no table to eat on, of children with no books to read, of single mothers who were bowed down with weariness and grief because they worked all day to feed their children and had no time to teach them righteousness. And I told that bishop, It can't be right for your people to have so little, and my people to have so much. I'll pray for the Lord to soften the hearts of the members of my ward, so they'll turn their hearts with compassion toward the poor. And now here you are, and I can go to that bishop and tell him that he can pay the tuition of that worthy girl, and take those children to the doctor, and buy the furniture and the books and even the freedom that many of the people in his ward need so badly. Now look what great blessings we can share with the humblest of the Saints. And as for your old car, I know where it must also go.'"

"What a wonderful dream," said the man.

"But it isn't finished," said his wife. "In my dream we went to church several weeks later, and as we got out of our modest new car, we saw the wealthiest man in the ward drive into the parking lot. He was driving our old car.

"And in my dream we both became angry that the bishop gave our car, not to the poor, but to this rich old man who had all he needed in the world. We went to the bishop and said, 'We didn't give you this car so you could share it with the rich!'

"And then the bishop put his arms around our shoulders and said, 'Oh, my dear brother, my dear sister, I must have made a mistake. I thought you gave that car to the Lord's church, to be used for righteous purposes. I thought that I was the one called to be the judge in Zion, to decide who should be steward over the Lord's property. Instead I see that you still own that car in your hearts. So I'll give you back the title; it wasn't part of your surplus after all.'