Spiritual Thought Sunday

Good Sunday Evening to you all.  Today was a great day at church.  I really enjoyed all of our meetings.  We had our fast and testimony meeting today (a fast and testimony meeting is a meeting where we as members of the congregation fast from two meals and we bare our testimonies to each other and share with others our love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of His church).

In Young Women's today the lesson was on Finding Joy Now.  This has been something that Harrison and I have talked a lot about with each other.  I was able to read the lesson ahead of time and I loved the comments that the teacher, girls, and other leaders gave.

Why do we deprive ourselves of joy in the "now"?  I think as human beings (I know this happens to me all the time) we constantly tell ourselves, "I will be happy when ________ happens." or "When I finally get to ________ place in my life, I will be happy."  Why do we do that?  We set ourselves up for failure and gloomy days when we do that.

I remember living in Provo while Harrison attended BYU.  At times it seemed that we didn't have two nickels to rub together... and it seemed to be cold and snowy more than anywhere else in the world.  I thought many times, "Once Harrison graduates, we will be happier." and "Once we get out of the snow, I will be happier."  To tell you the truth, I had many miserable days in Provo and it was because of my attitude.

We need to find joy in our journey!  Find joy in the NOW!  I look back and remember the times I would pick Harrison up from school at night and I loved doing that.  Harrison would jump into the truck with his hat and gloves on and be thankful to be in the warmth again.  I really loved doing that for him.  I also remember the lunches we would share together at the Cannon Center.  I would meet him in the parking lot and he would be standing in the closest space he could find so I didn't have to walk a long way.  We would eat like 6 donuts and 4 glasses of chocolate milk and talk and laugh.  We even ate breakfast there before a flight to (I don't remember where)... but the oatmeal was amazing!

Why didn't I stop to think about those great times then?  I spent a lot of days writing in my journal about how cold and gloomy and ugly it was in the winter.  Why wasn't I thankful for those "donut dates" and such?

It is important for us to be happy NOW.  Stop wasting away our days waiting for better ones to come.  It isn't healthy for our psyche.  Our loving Heavenly Father has placed us on the Earth to have joy.  There is a scripture in The Book of Mormon that expresses this plainly.

2 Nephi 2:25 says:
Adam fell that men might be;  men are, that they might have joy.

In my scriptures I have a little note that says "to become like Heavenly Father"

Heavenly Father wants us to have joy.  He placed us on this Earth to be joyful and happy.  He doesn't like us to be sad and mope around life.  He wants us to experience life for good.

So- find joy NOW.  Find joy in your journey!  You will be blessed for it.  AND- you will just be an overall more happy person!