"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
This is Nephi's brethren complaining about their journey after they left Jerusalem and imagining how happy they might have been if things had been different.
I think we fall into this same trap sometimes, don't we? We look back on our lives and see an impediment or a choice that seems to have broken a lot of things, and if it hadn't been for that one thing, usually that someone did to us, or that was out of our control in another way, we say, like Nephi's brethren, "we might have been happy."
It is a tempting idea to take the sum of our life and pinpoint a moment in time that made us or broke us. It takes the edge off our responsibility for being our best selves and casts it on someone or something outside our control. ... Unfortunately that's just not reality. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that we embrace guilt trips, or get down on ourselves for all of our failings. God doesn't want that or mean that. When we make mistakes and even purposefully bad choices in life, God encourages us to repent and change. Like he did for the woman taken in adultery, he gives us a way out, and wants us to go and sin no more.
What I am suggesting is that maybe we should take a step back and find a way to choose happiness, no matter where we are. Russell M. Nelson has said "By keeping God’s commandments, we can find joy even in the midst of our worst circumstances." We definitely can't choose everything that happens to us, but we *can* choose what we do now. We read in Mormon 9:14 that at the final judgement, "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still," which I think means that God means for us to be happy here, in this life, not just after. God leads us to a happy ending, but the rest of the story doesn't have to be tragic either. :)
Today, let's not think about what-if scenarios and replay where our lives have gone wrong. Let's start now, and make them go right. :) Let's find happiness in the midst of whatever tragedy we are in the middle of, and keep looking for it, no matter how bad it gets (like 2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Let's look forward and be thankful for the choices that we have now instead of mourning over choices or circumstances from the past. Let's not say "we might have been happy" but instead "Wow, that was hard, but we're okay. Let's do something fun." With God's help, we can choose happiness over regret, and it's a good thing.
1 Nephi 17:21
This is Nephi's brethren complaining about their journey after they left Jerusalem and imagining how happy they might have been if things had been different.
I think we fall into this same trap sometimes, don't we? We look back on our lives and see an impediment or a choice that seems to have broken a lot of things, and if it hadn't been for that one thing, usually that someone did to us, or that was out of our control in another way, we say, like Nephi's brethren, "we might have been happy."
It is a tempting idea to take the sum of our life and pinpoint a moment in time that made us or broke us. It takes the edge off our responsibility for being our best selves and casts it on someone or something outside our control. ... Unfortunately that's just not reality. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that we embrace guilt trips, or get down on ourselves for all of our failings. God doesn't want that or mean that. When we make mistakes and even purposefully bad choices in life, God encourages us to repent and change. Like he did for the woman taken in adultery, he gives us a way out, and wants us to go and sin no more.
What I am suggesting is that maybe we should take a step back and find a way to choose happiness, no matter where we are. Russell M. Nelson has said "By keeping God’s commandments, we can find joy even in the midst of our worst circumstances." We definitely can't choose everything that happens to us, but we *can* choose what we do now. We read in Mormon 9:14 that at the final judgement, "he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still," which I think means that God means for us to be happy here, in this life, not just after. God leads us to a happy ending, but the rest of the story doesn't have to be tragic either. :)
Today, let's not think about what-if scenarios and replay where our lives have gone wrong. Let's start now, and make them go right. :) Let's find happiness in the midst of whatever tragedy we are in the middle of, and keep looking for it, no matter how bad it gets (like 2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Let's look forward and be thankful for the choices that we have now instead of mourning over choices or circumstances from the past. Let's not say "we might have been happy" but instead "Wow, that was hard, but we're okay. Let's do something fun." With God's help, we can choose happiness over regret, and it's a good thing.
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