Seeking Happiness and Joy

I want you to ponder this statement from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and determine in your mind what commandment he is referring to. Elder Holland said, "I submit to you, [this] may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart." 1 With this statement, Elder Holland was referring to a commandment found in John. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. ...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 2 Elder Holland said in that same talk, "The Lord has probably spoken enough such comforting words to supply the whole universe, it would seem, and yet we see all around us unhappy Latter-day Saints, worried Latter-day Saints, and gloomy Latter-day Saints into whose troubled hearts not one of these innumerable consoling words seems to be...

A dear sister shared the most beautiful tribute to motherhood today at church. I will do my best to record the words she spoke. Sister Harker said, A few weeks ago, my youngest daughter had her first baby. My emotions were very close to the surface. I repeated over and over that I couldn't believe my baby was having a baby. After the baby's birth, the nurse was doing what she's supposed to do: scrubbing and cleaning and pricking. Ellie was doing what a newborn is supposed to do: crying at the top of her lungs. I decided to reach out and touch Ellie's hand in hopes of making her first few minutes of life more comforting. Ellie wrapped her little hand around one of my fingers. Holding hands is one of the greatest ways we connect with one another. As I thought about these hands, I reflected on the hands of my mother. She used her hands to hold me and comfort me as a baby. She held my hand as I experienced the new things in life. She used her hands to clap for me a...

I just finished my student teaching in a fifth grade class on Friday. It was an amazing experience full of highs and lows. One of the highlights occurred toward the end. I had been asked to cover lunch playground duty for an entire week. The students are on a staggered lunch schedule. The fifth graders go first and the kindgergartners don't finish their recess until 30 minutes after the fifth graders have gone inside. My mentor teacher and I worked out a plan so that she would teach while I was still outside. On the very last day of the week, I noticed the students were still outside 10 minutes after their bell had rung. I let them in the classroom on my way out front to watch the kindergartners. I didn't know what to do. I was obligated to tend to the kindergartners. Their playground is in the front of the school with the greatest potential for harm. I couldn't be late, but I didn't want to leave my class unattended. I considered asking a teacher across th...

Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway, and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin and hellish darkness and despair. One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone we do not have to do so.

At Institute tonight, we talked briefly about the account of the woman who came in and washed Jesus' feet with her tears drying them with her hair and then annointing His feet which is found in Luke 7:37-50 . In the midst of this washing, Jesus shares a parable of two debtors being forgiven their debts. The one who had the greater debt forgiven loved the master more. The question then is how does the one with the smaller debt become filled with as much love as the one with the greater debt without acruing more debt (sins)? I immediately thought of the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 . The son who remained home with the father and did as he should was jealous of the prodigal son whose return was grandly celebrated. It is easy to be like second son and question the father why our obedience is not celebrated. We don't experience the same amount of joy upon the embrace of the father if we get caught up in the moment, especially in jealousy. In response to the son...

I participated in the devotional tonight in my New Testament Institute class. I sang, "Close Enough to Touch" by Kenneth Cope and shared a little excerpt from a talk I gave over the summer. This woman, whose story is told briefly in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had an issue of blood for 12 years. She had sought out numerous physicians and used all that she had to seek a cure. None had cured her; her condition was now worse. Her faith brought her to seek out Jesus. “For she said within herself, if I but touch his garment, I shall be whole.”( Matthew 9:21 ) She pressed her way through the crowd that was following Jesus to touch the hem of His garment. Elder Neuenschwander in his April 2008 General Conference address described this crowd. “I picture the crowd itself. It must have been fairly large, as people were pressing in on Jesus. It might have even been a noisy crowd, as people pushed and shoved trying to get a better look at Him. I wonder why they were there. Most, I think,...

In Institute tonight, we discussed the latter chapters of Matthew. Contained in Matthew 20 is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. It tells of workers being hired to do the same work during the course of one day. Some are hired first thing in the morning, and others are hired as the day passes. There is a group of workers hired at the very end of the day. When the day is over, the laborers are each paid, starting with those hired last. They are given penny. The laborers who were hired first thing in the morning anticipated a great payout since those hired at the end received what they did. When they were paid, they were also given the same amount, a penny. When they were paid, they were upset, "Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day." In my attempt to understand this parable better earlier this week, I read a few talks that referenced the parable and pondered thes...