Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Happiness

From a sermon by Jedediah M. Grant

“I want the Saints to be impressed with the motto of being happy all the time; if you cannot be happy to-day, how can you be happy to-morrow? I speak this from what I have learned myself; though it has given me much of trouble, and a great amount of perseverance, to be happy under all circumstances. I have learned not to fret myself. It has taken me a great while to arrive at this point, but I have obtained it in a measure, and perhaps many of you have obtained the same thing, but I doubt whether a great many have learned the secret of happiness.

In order to understand the principle of happiness you must not be ever complaining, but learn not to fret yourselves. If things do not go right, let them go as they will, if they go rough, let it be so; if all hell boils over, let it boil. I thank the Lord for the bitter as well as for the sweet; I like to grapple with the opposite: I like to work and have something to oppose. I used to dread those things, but now I like to grapple with opposition, and there is plenty of it on the right hand and on the left. When trouble gets in among you, shake it off, or bid it stand out of the way. If the devil should come and say, “Brother Brigham is not doing his duty, or is not doing right,” kick him right out of your way; bid him depart, do not allow him to have place in your habitation, but learn to be happy.

I remember a noted deist who said that it was a poor religion that would not make a person happy here in this life: he would not give a fig for such a religion; and I would say the same; give me a religion that will make me happy here, and that will make me happy hereafter. If you have the blues, or the greens, shake them off, and learn to be happy, and to be thankful. If you have nothing to eat but johnny cake, be thankful for that, and if you have not johnny cake, but have a roasted potatoe and buttermilk, why, be thankful; or if you have a leg of a chicken, or any other kind of food, learn to be thankful, and if you have only one dollar in your pocket, learn to be as happy under these circumstances as if you had ten dollars.

One time in Nauvoo, some English brethren did not like to eat corn bread, and one of them says to another, just before partaking of some, “Are you going to ask a blessing? I am not going to thank God for nothing else but corn bread, potatoes, and salt.” Brethren, those feelings should not be, we ought to be happy and shake off the blues, no difference what we may be called to pass through, but let us have the light of the Lord, the channel of inspiration open, that the light of truth may break in upon our understandings, that we may be rich in faith and in good works.

I used once to be troubled with dyspepsia, and had frequently to call upon the Elders to administer, and on one occasion, brother Joseph Smith says to me, “Brother Grant, if I could always be with you, I could cure you.” How is it that brother Brigham is able to comfort and soothe those who are depressed in spirit, and always make those with whom he associates so happy? I will tell you how he makes us feel so happy. He is happy himself, and the man who is happy himself can make others feel so, for the light of God is in him, and others feel the influence, and feel happy in his society. I want the Saints to live in a way that they can feel happy all the time, and then we shall enjoy the Holy Spirit; then we shall meet in heaven to part and meet again; and when we get through our work assigned us, then we may assist, if not to make a world as large as this, in organizing some little lump of clay.”–Excerpted From JD Vol 3.

5 comments:

WC said...

Thanks for the post. I do feel happier upon reading it. What a thing it would be to have someone like Joseph Smith around all the time.

Anonymous said...

There is someone just like him, but he languishes in a prison cell for a crime so heineous as to tell a newlywed couple to try to get along and love each other. (Gasp)!!

Pliggy said...

Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace,
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart, Searching my soul!

Where, when my aching grows,Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand To calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand? He, only One.

He answers privately, Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds For my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind, Love without end.

Text: Emma Lou Thayne

Pliggy said...

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God."
-Joseph Smith (TPJS pg 255)

Dale said...

Thank you for that. I learned long ago that it is far better to be happy than to find something to complain about. I don't always remember what I had learned so it is good to be reminded of it.