The Happiness Choice

I was perusing facebook the other day and came across a post with a link to this article about happiness.

(Just a side note about facebook...I am more of a facebook stalker than a facebook participant.  I think I have posted 2 things on my wall in the last 3 years.  One was a notice to those in our Relief Society that our activity was cancelled a few Januarys ago due to really bad weather.  The other was just about 2 weeks ago to announce Amber's mission call.  I am trying to at least wish people happy birthday when it comes up on my news feed, and I may make a comment occasionally or like something, but for the most part, I'm just there to see what others have posted.  I really never used to go on it until we got the iPad, mostly because I never wanted to bother with looking up my password, but now that I have the app, it is cake to get on.  Hence, my habit of checking it daily to see what my "friends" are posting. Just felt the need to state my Facebook philosophy.  Oh, and the Downton character I most am like is Anna. :) and I am an Idaho Mormon, which seems appropriate although I would have guessed Pacific Northwest Mormon.  Probably because I didn't choose a cabin to live in.  I rarely check out stuff like that, but for some reason this week, both of those sucked me in.  :)  Moving on...)

Anyway, I took a look at this article and a few things struck me.

Fifth from the bottom of the list is this..."You have a sister"  I have 3 sisters.  Yay for me.  My kids all have at least 4 sisters, Trev has 5.  Yay for them.  My husband has 2, and my sons-in-law all have at least one sister.  Yay for them.  We are all on the road to happiness!  :)  I actually found that one a bit amusing because as anyone with a sibling, not just a sister, knows, we often let them be a vehicle for unhappiness.  Which brings me to another thing that struck me...

as scientific research has discovered, happiness, to some extent, is a choice --

This stuck out to me as I was doing my Book of Mormon reading one day this week. (By the way, I am loving the bofm365 instagram posts I get everyday.  I have been a daily scripture reader for years, but I appreciate the questions that come with each day's scriptures.  It has enhanced my studying experience.  I also started reading in the Book of Mormon commentary book as I read the assignment.  I love pondering on the question and also the added insights from the commentary book.)  But again, I digress...

We are in the section of the Book of Mormon where Lehi's family has been in the wilderness for 8 years, and Nephi broke his bow, and of course, Laman and Lemuel murmured.  Several of the comments brought out that happiness is a choice and that L & L chose not to be happy.  By contrast, Nephi did.

I have never equated their murmuring with unhappiness.  Disobedience? Yes.  Rebellion? Yes.  Jealousy?  Yes.  Never unhappiness.  But it does make sense.  It was a real light bulb moment for me.

I don't consider myself an unhappy person, but I know there have been times when I have chosen to be unhappy by the mere act of not choosing to be happy.

There were a few things in this article that I find I am pretty good at - I try to appreciate the little things in life and I think I am getting better at the glass half-full philosophy.  I also find things that I could work on to be happier - more goals go right on by than are actually achieved (although I do set them), and as much as I try to laugh at myself when I do something stupid, the small stuff does get me down at times and knowing how to calm down when I'm stressing...yeah, that is a work in progress.

Overall though, I am here to tell you that the happiness choice is just that, a choice.  If we aren't choosing happiness, as I said before, we are choosing unhappiness by default.  I'm not sure there is any middle ground.

I choose happiness though, and invite you to do the same.  I have so many things to be grateful for, how could I choose anything else?

Have a HAPPY day!  :)

Our Father's Love

It is cold here!  That is an understatement, and I know it is way colder other places, but today when I walked with my friend, it was around 10 deg.  BRRR!!  Tuesday, when I was walking with the same friend -who by the way is from Minnesota and has lived in Alaska, therefore can handle the cold - down by the river, we came across this lovely fellow.  Of course, I'm not sure he's a fellow, but I'm just going with to keep things simple.  We passed him heading one way, and my friend pointed him out to me, and when we were heading back, I told her I wanted a picture if he was still there, and amazingly, he still was.  We cracked up because his head is tucked so tightly into his shoulders.  You know there is a long neck all folded up in there.  He is all hunkered down to face the cold.  My friend pointed out that maybe its warmer on the ground than flying in the wind.  Who knows??  

I do know that I love moments like this when I come upon something in nature that is a bit of a surprise, as well as a little out of the ordinary, and I feel loved.  Being in nature reminds me of Heavenly Father's love for us.  He directed Jesus to create this world for us, to live in and to enjoy.  It is a beautiful world.  

Two other things this week have reminded me about how much He loves us.  

Our Relief Society lesson on Sunday was about Visiting Teaching.  That program which gives us a chance to minister to and serve our fellow sisters in the Gospel was instituted in the early days of the Church.  Although its methods have changed over the years (check out Chapter 7 of Daughters of My Kingdom), its purpose is the same.  This program gives us a chance to be the Lord's hands in His absence.  To minister and succor as He did when he was on the earth.

The third thing is the Atonement of Christ.  We have been reading this book,

in book club.  Wow!!!  We only read the first half because it is packed with so much information we had to break it up.  Chapter 15 is where we ended and it is titled, Infinite in Love.  Reading that chapter brought home to me how much Heavenly Father does love us.  His willingness to sacrifice His son, to let him suffer incomprehensible pain and suffering for us in mind-boggling.  As a mother, the thought of losing one of my children is unbearable to think about.  Knowing the love that both of them had - Heavenly Father to let it happen, and Christ to suffer and die for us - makes me want to be the best I can so it is not in vain.  Not taking advantage of the Atonement and repentance seems to be the greatest ingratitude I could show.  Now, having said that, I will continue to make stupid mistakes and be the human that I am, but I guess the test of how much I really believe in and am grateful for the Atonement is in the way I use repentance and make those changes to become better little by little, day by day.

Of course, there are other things that show me of His love, but in short, I am grateful for these 3 manifestations just in the last 3 days.

I feel loved!!

A few thoughts on Grace...

Grace, the grace of God, has always been a bit murky to me.  Probably because the Atonement has been murkier!  I get how we can repent, be forgiven and move forward, but really, I never understood how it worked in someone's life who isn't out committing major sins and needing major repentance.  I also, always loved the song, Amazing Grace.  I am not sure I have ever truly listened to the words of that song, but I love the concept that His grace in "amazing", because it is.

A while ago, Brandon sent me a link to a Speech by Brad Wilcox that he gave at BYU in 2011.  Well, suffice to say, I loved it, it sank into my heart and I shared it with many people, especially those in my life who I felt could use encouragement in their struggles. I used part of it for a Family Home Evening lesson.  I even worked it into a Relief Society lesson wondering if it was an approved resource for my lesson.   But since then I have...

Seen it in BYU Alumni Magazine
Heard it referenced over our pulpit by a High Counselor
And, found it in the September issue of the Ensign.

There have been other "sightings" and I'm so happy for that!  It is truly the best explanation of what the Atonement means in our lives and how to take full advantage of it.  Which I think is so important because if we don't take advantage of it, the Savior died on the cross all for naught!!  The best way we can show our appreciation for his sacrifice for us is to take FULL advantage of it!

You can read the talk in the Ensign, but I think it is more powerful to listen to or watch it from the link above.  Anyone who feels like they are too far gone to be eligible for repentance will be encouraged by Bro. Wilcox's plea for them to try it, to trust in it and to seek the peace it can bring.

I am grateful to have this knowledge and the way it has enriched my life.  I am grateful for the Atonement and the love of the Savior in my life. I am grateful for the power of Grace.

*Here is a quirky little sideline about Brad Wilcox.  When I lived in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, the play "My Turn on Earth" came to town.  That is still a little baffling to me, because Scottsbluff is about as small as it sounds.  Just around 10,000 people, and out in the middle of the Nebraska panhandle.  Anyway, Brad Wilcox was one of the actors in the play, and I'm quite certain I got his autograph on my program.  I remember going on stage after it was over.  Crazy, huh?  I also remember selling him movie tickets to the Varsity Theatre when I worked at the Candy Jar as a BYU student.  I'm sure I recognized his face as he probably paid in cash and quite possibly may have commented that I saw him in the play.  Not sure on that point!  Well, here it is many years later, and he has made a different sort of impression on me!

2 weeks GBE

Well, two weeks into it, and I haven't been perfect, but I haven't given up either.  Honestly, I don't feel inspired at all to be witty, introspective, or impressive.  I do feel like sharing 2 blog posts I have run across recently.

This one is by Jen Hatmaker.  (Maybe some of you have heard of her post that highlighted her as the Worst End of School Mom Ever.  It is pretty funny in and of itself, and if you are interested, click here.  My son-in-law Brandon actually sent that post to me, and I was ever so glad.)  But I have digressed...

The other blog post was shared by my youngest sister on Facebook. (The language in this post is not squeaky clean.  Just a head's up.)

What I find interesting about both of these posts is not only that they are somewhat related, but that neither of these moms are LDS.  Now, I'm not going to claim LDS women have the market on comparing themselves to other moms, but those of you who have listened to General Conference or a General RS Broadcast lately, know that it is a big problem among us.  We strive hard to be perfect, then fall short because we are human, and move on to beating ourselves up because we are NOT perfect, and surely are the LEAST perfect of all the sisters in our ward who are, well, perfect!!  It is a vicious circle.

Now that I am a grandma, and my kids are not little anymore, and I have (more than a few) grey hairs, I can honestly say that I am often able to refrain from comparing myself to others.  I think I have learned at least that much in my life so far.  But I would be dishonest if I said that the comparison monster does not rear his ugly head occasionally, and I have to beat it away (one good use for those gargantuan zuchinni, hee hee) and step back and remember that I would be a fool to let him get into my head.

I think that the majority of the time, though, I rejoice in the good things that happen to those in my circle, and that I sorrow with them for the not so good things that happen, and cheer them on when they are doing something hard or new, and, most of all, that I keep my perspective.  I would like to think these things anyway...

As I said at the beginning, I'm not perfect, but I haven't given up...