Let's talk happiness.
I mean real happiness, not those fleeting moments that you look back on and think to yourself, "Yeah, I can honestly say that I was happy then."
My friend's dad (who is also a bishop and has known me for almost 20 years) stopped me on my way to my institute class a couple weeks ago just to say hello and catch up for a second. We were just making small talk and then out of nowhere he says,
"Jess, why are you so happy all the time? I haven't seen you like this since you were little."
I looked the man straight in the eye and told him that life is SO good! It would be an injustice for me to say that my life is difficult or that I am doing any less than great because I am beyond blessed.
I'm not trying to say that my life is perfect by any means, but I can tell you exactly why my heart is so full. It is 100% because I really tried to turn myself to Christ during 2015 and continue to do so in 2016. I count my blessings every day, try to remember to have sincere daily prayer, study His life and teachings, and focus on being better through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ.
The way that 2014 ended made it so obvious to me that the only way to real and enduring happiness comes through drawing on the strength and grace of Christ and truly living his teachings to the fullest. I wasn't doing that before. Let's be honest, I'm still not doing as much as I know I could be, but that doesn't mean that I feel the love and peace of Christ any less. If anything else, that helps me realize that I truly need Him every hour of every day. We all do, even if we don't want to admit it.
I've always been one of those people is skeptical of people when they say things like this. I've always thought that to be happy you just have to force that way of thinking in your mind. Let me tell you, thinking happy might help turn things around, but the kind of happiness that shines out your face and emanates through your entire being, the kind that is contagious and influences everyone around you, that comes from Christ alone.
I know what you're thinking, "Jess, that's too easy. There's no way that's all it takes."
Guess what, it is easy! It's supposed to be! Don't start thinking that your life has to be overly complicated in order to be happy!
That's the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's simple enough that a child can understand it, but it takes a lifetime of study to even begin to comprehend the great amount of love and grace that Christ bestows upon each of us, even though we are sinful, prideful people. I don't know of anything more humbling than to realize that a man, born of God, descended to the absolute depths of hell to better help raise us up to become the people that we were destined to be. How wonderful it is to realize that we need never be alone. Christ, a very God, is there 100% of the time.
He is there when you want him to be.
He is there when you ignore him.
He is there when you are in the darkest times of your life.
Look for Him.
Look and you will find.
And guess what, when you find Him, you'll find your happy.
My friend's dad (who is also a bishop and has known me for almost 20 years) stopped me on my way to my institute class a couple weeks ago just to say hello and catch up for a second. We were just making small talk and then out of nowhere he says,
"Jess, why are you so happy all the time? I haven't seen you like this since you were little."
I looked the man straight in the eye and told him that life is SO good! It would be an injustice for me to say that my life is difficult or that I am doing any less than great because I am beyond blessed.
I'm not trying to say that my life is perfect by any means, but I can tell you exactly why my heart is so full. It is 100% because I really tried to turn myself to Christ during 2015 and continue to do so in 2016. I count my blessings every day, try to remember to have sincere daily prayer, study His life and teachings, and focus on being better through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ.
The way that 2014 ended made it so obvious to me that the only way to real and enduring happiness comes through drawing on the strength and grace of Christ and truly living his teachings to the fullest. I wasn't doing that before. Let's be honest, I'm still not doing as much as I know I could be, but that doesn't mean that I feel the love and peace of Christ any less. If anything else, that helps me realize that I truly need Him every hour of every day. We all do, even if we don't want to admit it.
I've always been one of those people is skeptical of people when they say things like this. I've always thought that to be happy you just have to force that way of thinking in your mind. Let me tell you, thinking happy might help turn things around, but the kind of happiness that shines out your face and emanates through your entire being, the kind that is contagious and influences everyone around you, that comes from Christ alone.
I know what you're thinking, "Jess, that's too easy. There's no way that's all it takes."
Guess what, it is easy! It's supposed to be! Don't start thinking that your life has to be overly complicated in order to be happy!
That's the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's simple enough that a child can understand it, but it takes a lifetime of study to even begin to comprehend the great amount of love and grace that Christ bestows upon each of us, even though we are sinful, prideful people. I don't know of anything more humbling than to realize that a man, born of God, descended to the absolute depths of hell to better help raise us up to become the people that we were destined to be. How wonderful it is to realize that we need never be alone. Christ, a very God, is there 100% of the time.
He is there when you want him to be.
He is there when you ignore him.
He is there when you are in the darkest times of your life.
Look for Him.
Look and you will find.
And guess what, when you find Him, you'll find your happy.
