First things first: a HUGE shoutout to all Moms. Every time I have to play Mom even for a day or two, I am blown away at everything Amber does. I honestly don't know how she does it, except for that she has to have help from God because she is doing His work! It would be the understatement of 2016 and all of eternity to say that what Mom's do is incredible!
So here goes the thrust of this post (although my previous comments totally go with it). This month I have been reading the Book of Mormon again (17.1 pages per day for 31 days in December). I am pretty sure I have read the book 50 or so times in my life all things considered, but I am still constantly amazed at how God continues to teach me new things every time I read it. I am currently in Moroni 6 and will finish the book tomorrow morning, but there are two verses in Mormon 9 that have been pressing on my mind like crazy the last couple of days. Verses 13-14 as follows:
13 And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep,
from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the
trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and
all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this
eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy
shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous
still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy
shall be unhappy still.
I know I have read these verses many, many times before, but all of the sudden verse 14 just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I have been feeling the effects for two days now. Moroni is talking about the Final Judgment here, when you and I will stand face to face with the Master of All Things (Jesus Christ), and give an accounting of our lives. We will find out where we will spend the rest of eternity and who we will spend it with. The interesting thing about this verse is the line, "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still."
All of the sudden I realized something: if we can't find a way to be happy now, then good luck finding a way to be happy later. So often we find ourselves in circumstances that can easily upset us, frustrate us and push us to choose to be unhappy; but the bottom line is that it is still a choice for each one of us whether we are happy or not. As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in April 2014 Conference, "It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?
Could I suggest that we see
gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our
current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being
thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be."
I think that Pres. Uchtdorf is teaching the same thing as Moroni was in Mormon 9:14. Regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in, we can choose whether or not to be happy. It is not about whether we win or lose, or whether we are rich or poor, or whether our team won the latest game or not, it is about choosing happiness over misery (see also 2 Nephi 2:27). It is about choosing Christ over the world, and trusting that He is the ultimate truth and will ultimately set you free (see John 8:32).
Then I really got thinking... God has an awful lot of circumstances that He could be unhappy about, and yet we say that He is experiencing a fullness of joy. In Moses 7, Enoch has a vision in which he speaks with God, and sees God weeping. Enoch is puzzled at how the God of the Universe could possibly weep, and so asks the question of God, "How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?"
The Lord's response is incredible when you think about it in context of what He does and what He sees every day. He says to Enoch, "thy brethren...are without affection, and they hate their own blood...I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren. But
behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan
shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole
heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands;
wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?"
God weeps when He sees His children make choices that will bring them suffering and pain, particularly when they make choices that will make the suffering and pain more permanent, and yet, He still has joy, He still chooses happiness. Think of what He sees every day on this earth! Think of the evil and the suffering and misery that He has to watch, while recognizing that He still must allow us to have our free will, even when exercising that free will leads to suffering. President Russell M. Nelson spoke about how we can personally apply these principles now when he spoke in the October 2016 General Conference:
"Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!
My
dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the
circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our
lives.
When the focus of our lives
is on God’s plan of salvation...and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless
of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and
because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime
when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” And we can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!
That
is why our missionaries leave their homes to preach His gospel. Their
goal is not to increase the number of Church members. Rather, our
missionaries teach and baptize to bring joy to the people of the world!
Just as the Savior offers peace that “passeth all understanding,” He also offers an intensity, depth, and breadth of joy that defy human
logic or mortal comprehension. For example, it doesn’t seem possible to
feel joy when your child suffers with an incurable illness or when you
lose your job or when your spouse betrays you. Yet that is precisely the
joy the Savior offers. His joy is constant, assuring us that our
“afflictions shall be but a small moment” and be consecrated to our gain.
How, then, can we claim that joy? We can start by “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” “in every thought.”
We can give thanks for Him in our prayers and by keeping covenants
we’ve made with Him and our Heavenly Father. As our Savior becomes more
and more real to us and as we plead for His joy to be given to us, our
joy will increase.
Joy is powerful,
and focusing on joy brings God’s power into our lives. As in all things,
Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, “who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross.” Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!
And
what was the joy that was set before Him? Surely it included the joy of
cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the
sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and
me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and
families." (Click HERE to read Elder Nelson's talk)
I will be completely honest, I am a complete failure as a father most of the time. I yell at my kids way to frequently, and am not patient enough, kind enough, or loving enough to be the kind of father that they deserve. I am not just demeaning myself, I am just being open and honest. A lot of the times I focus on the difficulty of raising 7 children and making sure that I do the best I can to teach them the right way and not "look bad" in front of other people while doing it. I spend way too much effort in trying to parent well...in the sense that in my own pride, I want people to know my wife and I can "handle" the 7 kids we have. However, I have been trying really hard to make the mental switch that it doesn't matter what other people perceive, what matters is that I choose happiness even when life gets crazy.
I think God placed me in a situation with 7 kids age 10 and under so that I would start to see more clearly from His eyes. I think He is trying to help me see how no matter how many times He tells me something (or any of His kids), I will still screw up... a lot! I think He wants me to see how completely and wholly I depend on Him and His grace, as given to me as a gift through His Son Jesus Christ.
Even though I fail at fathering more frequently than I care to admit, I can still say that I find greater joy in being a father then I have experienced in any other way. My Heavenly Father is giving me a little taste of what He experiences as a Dad, so that He can help me to find happiness in it, or rather to CHOOSE happiness in it, even with all of the difficulties that come along with it. My hope and prayer is that we can all CHOOSE happiness, CHOOSE joy, regardless of our circumstances. I hope that we can focus on the eternal things, just as Jesus did when He endured the pain of Gethsemane and the Cross.
So after this week, I just have to say that it ain't all that bad! People go through a lot worse and still choose joy. I can still choose joy as well, and I pray for God's grace to help me to do that more fully so that I can also help my children to see what it means to choose joy through Jesus Christ!