Finding Happiness

Do you know where you’re going?

Every day we make decisions that determine where we will end up at the end of the day. Did we overeat today, so tonight we’ll feel full and bloated? Did we exercise today, so tonight we will feel strong and healthy? Did we pay our bills today so that tomorrow we will feel secure in knowing all is paid for? Did we pray today so that tonight we will feel safe knowing we are cared for by a loving Heavenly Father?

What is your destination?

I want to return to Heaven and live forever in happiness with my family and my God. That is my goal.

It’s a lofty goal that requires thought, planning and constant diligence or else I am likely to veer off course.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons,) believe it is possible to be reunited with our families after we die and to live forever with our Heavenly Father. Through faithful obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can reach this goal.

First, we must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith requires constant attention. It doesn’t grow if we don’t feed it. Its growth is stunted if we don’t use it. We must exercise faith that there is a God above us who knows us and loves us. We have to believe that He has a plan for us and that it is a good plan that will benefit us if we follow it. Faith requires that we act upon our beliefs even if we can’t see where our steps will lead us.

Mormons believe that God’s greatest gift to us is what yet lies in store: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

Second, we must repent of our sins.

Part of Heavenly Father’s plan for us is to provide a way for us to return home to Him, even if we have been less than perfect in this life. There has been and will ever be, only one person who has lived a perfect life—and that one person is Jesus Christ. None of us are expected to live as well as He did. However we are expected to take the gift of atonement that He offers us and to use it—or else His sacrifice is for naught.

Repent of your sins, forsake them.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, wrote:

“In the Book of Mormon Alma tried to help his son Corianton avoid unnecessary storms by explaining that “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10.) Unfortunately, sin appears occasionally attractive but hides its destructive nature until it is too late and harm is already done. We need to understand how to recognize and avoid the evil and be prepared to detour around it in time. If we do fail, however, there is hope and relief made possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Sincere repentance brings us forgiveness and peace in this life and puts us back on course to live again with our Heavenly Father (“Happy Landing,” New Era, Mar 1995, 4.)

Third, repeat steps one and two over and over again.

Put on your to-do list today to exercise faith and repentance and repeat. If you do these things, you will stay on course for your greatest destination. Not only will the journey be one of peace and happiness but your reward will be an eternity of joy and rejoicing, happiness beyond measure.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons,) we have additional scripture and revelations that have increased our understanding of the premortal life, our purpose in mortality, and our potential for eternal life. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught,

“The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence … ; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal ‘now’” (History of the Church, 4:597.)

Heavenly Father saw the end from the beginning and so it’s easy to imagine that the commandments He has given to us throughout the generations were for the purpose of helping us win the rewards He has prepared for us. Since He desires for us to be happy, it would stand to reason that following the commandments will help us achieve that happiness.

Today, the voice of the world would seek to convince us that following commandments is cumbersome and old-fashioned. However, happy people know that “wickedness never was happiness,” as Alma teaches (Alma 41:10.)

King Benjamin, a Book of Mormon prophet taught:

“And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it” (Mosiah 2:41.)

There is a period of time in the Book of Mormon when the Nephites were said to have “lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27.) They did not achieve this happiness overnight—it came after much hard work, scripture study, and continued faith in the Lord.

John B. Dickson, wrote in his talk “After the Manner of Happiness” (Ensign, Feb 2008, 14–18:)

“Keeping the commandments was an essential condition to their happy way of life: “And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things” (2 Nephi 5:10). They were not selective in the commandments they kept, but “in all things” they sought to be obedient. They knew that their temporal well-being, as well as their spiritual growth, depended upon their keeping the commandments of God.”

But mistakes do happen. When we inevitably do slip in our faithfulness, all is not lost. Even prophets and apostles before us have been imperfect. The wonderful gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that His atonement is for every one of us. If you should make a mistake, repent of your sins and sin no more.
“By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:42–43.)

Elder Dickson lists five steps that will help us to obtain not only happiness in this life but eternal life in the world to come:

1. Have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a desire to enjoy the blessings of celestial life.
2. Recognize mistakes and correct them through repentance.
3. Know that the Lord invites us to enjoy eternal happiness but will never force us.
4. Believe that the Savior can truly help us be clean and happy.
5. Have faith that forgiveness comes to those who truly repent.

Remember that you are a child of God and that He loves you. He prepared His plan of happiness for us from the very beginning and has surely provided a way for us to achieve that happiness. I testify that following the commandments of God is the right way to find and keep true happiness.