We Might Have Been Happy

I started reading the Book of Mormon again not too long ago and I learned a lot from the example of faithful, obedient Nephi, as well as the not so faithful examples of his brothers Laman and Lemuel.

In chapter 17 of 1 Nephi, the Lord commands Nephi to build a ship.  As he begins to do so his older brothers call him a fool for even trying.  I think they must have had a lot of pent up anger towards Nephi because they start to just verbally rip into Nephi.  They start griping about their father Lehi and how he made them leave Jerusalem and they complain about all of the things they suffered on their journey through the wilderness.  And then they said this:

"Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy."  (1 Nephi 17:21)

"We might have been happy."  In my mind, that is one of the saddest sentences in all scripture.  Laman and Lemuel were so convinced that their happiness was dependent upon their possessions and a life of ease and luxury that they missed years worth of opportunities to choose happiness, even, and especially, during times of suffering and opposition.

Martha Washington once said, "The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances."

Our circumstances don't determine our happiness. We do.  We have all been given agency, the ability to choose.  And happiness is a choice.  We can choose happiness during the easiest of times and the hardest of times.

"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." (2 Nephi 10:23)

The day after I arrived in Tennessee I wrote this in my journal: "The Tennessee Nashville Mission is a happy mission.  I am going to learn here how to be happy.  More importantly, I am going to learn how to choose to be happy."  I am so grateful for the many opportunities I have had to choose happiness.  I more fully understand what Nephi meant when he said that he and his people "lived after the manner of happiness." (2 Nephi 5:27)

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God”

Because our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants us to be happy, I am going to begin a series of blog posts that address 12 ways we can "live after the manner of happiness."  So stay tuned! 

And remember, we never have to look back on our life and say, "We might have been happy."  We can choose happiness right here and right now.

"How's Your Heart?"

Not too long ago I was in an interview with my mission president.  At the beginning of the interview I asked him if he had anything he wanted to talk to me about.  He said he had just one question for me.  And then he asked me this very simple, yet profound question:  "How's your heart?"

I was shocked.  How could he have known that I had hardened my heart towards him and other mission leaders?  How could he have known that I had allowed anger and frustration to enter into my heart?  How could he have known about the irritation festering in my heart because of some situations I had been put in?

I considered making some comment like, "Well I did have heart burn earlier today."  But I couldn't do it.  He cut down my defenses and humbled me with that 3 word question.

My mission president's inspired question reminded me of some other inspired questions posed by the Prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon:

• Have ye spiritually been born of God?
• Have ye received his image in your countenances?
• Have ye experienced [a] mighty change in your hearts?
• If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can you feel so now?
• Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God?
• Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble?
• Are ye stripped of pride?

That day with my mission president I was grateful for the opportunity to evaluate and reflect on the condition of my heart.  And I was filled with gratitude towards my Savior Jesus Christ for the opportunity to repent.  I know that He can change and soften and mold our hearts in such a way that we can become more like Him.  We can all experience a mighty change of heart as we turn towards our Savior.

Faith to Move Mountains

When I was younger I used to wonder if I had enough faith to move a mountain.  Jesus said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."  (Matthew 17:20)

Now I knew when I was little that a mustard seed was really, really small.  And I was pretty sure that my faith was bigger than a tiny mustard seed.  But I was always a little nervous about going outside to try to move a mountain because what would it mean about my faith if it didn't move?  (I suppose the greater concern should have been: Where would I have put the mountain?)  If the mountain didn't move, would that mean I had next to no faith?

Well my perspective on this scripture changed after hearing a talk by Bishop Richard C. Edgely during the October 2010 General Conference.  Here's the quote that rocked my world:

"I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain.  But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism.  Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness.  And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude.  Yes, I have seen mountains removed."

I, too, have seen mountains removed in my own life and in the lives of those I love.  In fact, I'm surrounded by mountain movers.  I know so many individuals who have so much faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him and His Atonement they have moved mountains.

If you're not sure if your faith in Christ is strong enough to move the mountains in your life, don't worry!  You can strengthen your faith through scripture study, prayer, serving others, obedience to God's commandments, and following the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Our faith leads us to action.  And sometimes that action can be mountain moving.

Looking Steadfastly Towards Heaven

I am an avid sky watcher.  I love seeing the varying designs and colors of sunrises and sunsets. 

The prophet Alma said, “All things denote there is a God” (Alma 30:44). Every time I look at the sky I am overwhelmed with an assurance that the Great Creator is, in reality, there.

Maybe it is my obsession with looking at the sky that made me notice the following scriptures.  Evidently, I'm not the only one who has a fascination with looking heavenward.

"...and they did look steadfastly towards heaven..." 3 Nephi 11:5
"...and they looked stedfastly toward heaven." Acts 1:10
"But [Stephen], being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."  Acts 7:55

Looking steadfastly towards heaven.  I love that!  Isn't heaven our goal?  Eternal life with our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and our families.  But how focused are we on that goal?  How fixed is our gaze?  Are we looking steadfastly?  Or do we only have brief glimpses of our eternal possibilities?

The Savior told us, "And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  And when these things begin to come to pass,  then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."  (Luke 21:27-28)

Christ will come again.  I am anxiously awaiting and preparing for His coming.  Every time I look up at the sky I feel almost as if I am practicing for the day when He will come "in a cloud with power and great glory."

LOOK UP AND LIFT UP YOUR HEAD!

Jesus is the Christ!  He can save us and cleanse us from sin.  He is our source of healing and redemption.  He loves us.  As we turn to the Savior and live the teachings of His gospel, our eyes will begin to be single to the glory of God and we will irresistibly look steadfastly towards heaven.