Finding Happiness

Have you ever asked why? Of course you have. All of us ask why from time to time. We wonder why someone we love must suffer, why calamities effect so many, taking their living, their health, even at times, their lives.

I’ve heard many people say that if God truly loved us, He wouldn’t allow bad things to happen to us. Sometimes, in my darkest hours, I’ve thought the same thing.

But God does love us and He has proven it by giving us life and best of all, by granting us freedom—the freedom to choose for ourselves what we will do with our lives.

This time on earth, our mortality, is our opportunity to fulfill our creation, to learn about Heavenly Father’s plan and to choose whether or not we will be obedient. Obedience to God’s plan, is essential to our happiness and our eternal progression.

The Book of Mormon prophet, King Benjamin, explained that, “the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe [in] Christ, … the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy” (Mosiah 3:13.)

He also taught his people: “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” (Mosiah 2:41.)

God wants us to be happy. He has provided a road map that not only makes our final destination one of “never-ending happiness” but provides a journey that can be full of joy and happiness. But to decipher that road map, we must first study the doctrines of happiness—real happiness.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons) teaches that critical to our knowledge of the plan of happiness is an understanding of the governing principle of agency. Mormons believe that God sent us to earth with the opportunity to choose for ourselves what we will believe, or whether or not to be obedient to God’s commands. In his talk “Answers to Life’s Questions,” M. Russell Ballard, a leader of the Mormon Church, wrote, “A person does not have to spend much time in the schoolroom of mortality to realize that Heavenly Father’s plan does not provide for blissful happiness at every step along our mortal journey. Life is filled with harsh realities that tug at the heart and tear away at the soul” (Ensign, May 1995, 22.)

Howard W. Hunter, then President of the Church, said:

“There is nothing sad or gloomy about a person who accepts the truths of the gospel and incorporates these principles in his daily living. God wants all of his children to be joyous and glad, and we can have this blessing if we are willing to keep his commandments and live by his word in all that we do” (in Conference Report, Sept./Oct. 1961, p. 108.)

When you come to understand our Heavenly Father’s plan, you will find many of life’s questions are answered in the gospel of Christ. The Apostle John said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17.)

I testify that God has provided us with all that we need to know about how to be happy in this life, despite the tragedies that abound. Search the scriptures and learn all you can about the great plan of happiness. I pray that as you come to understand these truths you will be compelled, as I was, to embrace them willingly. In doing so we will find an increase of happiness, a lasting happiness, and we will have peace. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27.)

Such peace will breath contentment to our souls and we will find that we have chosen to be happy and we will be eternally blessed because of it.

Every day we search for happiness—every one of us. There is not one living person who does not desire to be happy. Unfortunately, very often we mistake pleasure for happiness and since pleasure is more widely available we desperately grab onto it and hope it will make us happy.

Drugs, alcohol, even over eating can be a source of momentary pleasure that does not bring us the lasting happiness we crave. The world is full of sources of pleasure that are appealing on the surface, but can’t deliver the soul-healing joy that we were created to experience.

David O. McKay, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons,) once said, “You may get that transitory pleasure, yes, but you cannot find joy, you cannot find happiness. Happiness is found only along that well beaten track, narrow as it is, though straight, which leads to life eternal” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1919, 180.)

In Leonard Tolstoy’s book War and Peace, his character Pierre Bezúkhov learn “that man is created for happiness, that happiness is within him, in the satisfaction of simple human needs, and that all unhappiness arises not from privation but from superfluity” (trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude [1942], 1176.)

Here, Pierre is stating that it’s not for going without that brings us unhappiness, but excess. It’s not for having too little, but having too much.

Too often, we strive for more. We are a culture of overabundance and we are not any happier because of it. Rather, our obesity, our dependence on recreational drugs, is at an all-time high. We are drowning in our superfluity and we are not happy.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ can provide you with a plan for your own life that will yield you happiness unmeasured, without end. “The assurance of supreme happiness, the certainty of a successful life here and of exaltation and eternal life hereafter, come to those who plan to live their lives in complete harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ—and then consistently follow the course they have set” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 259.)

Decide today to make Christ’s plan of happiness your own. Make it the blueprint for your life. Forsake the lure of fleeting happiness and grasp instead, that joy that is yours for the taking—a life well lived in the gospel of Christ, your feet firm on the narrow path that leads you to life and joy eternal.