"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." 2 Nephi 10:23
"Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be Spiritually-Minded Is Life Eternal" 2 Nephi 9:39
The purpose of this post is to remind you to SMILE! I'm almost positive Heavenly Father laughed a bit at how clever he was in wording 2 Nephi 9:39 the way he did. In case you haven't gotten it yet, the acronym of those last 5 words spells SMILE! Heavenly Father gave us that hint: those who are spiritually minded smile more for those who are spiritually minded truly have reason to smile.
Life isn't easy, but after a difficult week dealing with a cold, too much work, and not enough sleep, I was grateful for this reminder. I was just just as grateful for the verse I found in the next chapter: "Therefore, cheer up your hearts! And remember that ye are free to act for yourselves."
The gift of choice (or agency) is the most precious gift our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ could give us. They, as loving parent and older brother, knew that no one can tell, coerce, threaten, or force a free spirit to be happy. True happiness, true joy, is one of those emotions that cannot be mimicked, copied, or given away. The first part of that verse became a theme for me over the next week and whenever I was tempted to be upset or grumpy I reminded myself: "Therefore, cheer up!"
What an interesting phrase, cheer UP. It isn't cheer down, around, or through. We are to cheer UP! Up towards the blue sky above the clouds, up towards our Heavenly Father, cheer UP! I recalled a similar phrase in preparation for this blog post from Sister Wirthlin, mother of apostle, Joseph B. Wirthlin: "Come what may and love it." I reread his talk from October 2008 and caught hold of this message as well:
"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
This was an important lesson I would need to be reminded of just a few days later. Projects and missed deadlines plagued the next couple of days and when that was finished I had to deal with the growing number of emails in my inbox, unending phone calls, and put out the fires I left burning too long. And just when the most mediocre of days was over and I was on my way home to go to the House of the Lord I got off the bus to find my keys gone (left on my desk at work), the spare knocked from the underbelly of my car, and to make matters worse I got a "fortune" from a fortune cookie telling me to do my chores. It isn't an uncommon occurrence for stressful situations to bring tears to my eyes and as my wonderful roommate pulled up to take me home I was almost to that point.
Then I stopped.
I reversed my train of thought, found the humor in the situation and was blessed with a wonderful feeling of gratitude. In addition to a great roommate willing to drive a few extra miles, she lent me her car do get to the temple that night. Two or three people were willing to pick me up, and my boss even double checked to make sure that my keys were actually left on my desk where I thought they were. I laughed at the blond hairs that I blamed for the situation and shook my finger at the dark cloud above me (literally--it was quite overcast that day...) that was trying to get me down as if to say, "Not this time!". I knew that the Lord would provide a way and that tomorrow would be better.
Not every time I'm faced with such things am I so able to brush it off. Sometimes I do cry and there is no one to console me, sometimes there isn't a friend to give me a hug (or a ride) when I need it, but never has my agency been taken from me, I have always had a choice. I can choose to live only in that moment and let it get me down, or I can choose to cheer up!
I don't remember when I first discovered this truth, but it was sometime when I really began to understand the meaning of my name: Joy. True joy comes through making good choices and one of those is choosing to be happy. I didn't always like my name, but for anyone who knows me now, I try very hard to live up to it and use it in the cheesiest ways possible...why else would this blog be rightfully name "My Joyous Pursuit of Happiness"? This is my motto: "Happiness is a Choice". Choose happiness, choose joy, choose to look UP and cheer UP, choose to SMILE!
And when choosing to smile becomes difficult just watch the video at the top again.
