A few weeks ago I went to Sapa (a really good Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Salt Lake) for their one year anniversary party with some friends. Sushi, oh, sweet sushi. How I love thee. The company was great, the food was awesome and the atmosphere was really fun. That isn’t the point of my little blog post, promise. Even though I do now recommend the restaurant to everyone because it really was that good. Haha.
The lesson learned from that night was this: being happy “in the moment” is nothing compared to knowing true JOY.
Let me explain where this all came from.
After said night of fun was had, I was giving my friend Andrea a ride home and we had the most amazing conversation! Andrea is amazing and we have a lot of fun together. She’s married and a mom of three of the cutest kids ever! She and I try to go to the Temple together when we have time and her little brother is a good friend of mine too.
Andrea and I have both lived lives where we have played and partied and experienced what the world would call “fun”. This actually helped to spark the conversation on the drive home. Andrea had been in line with her husband and had a pretty fun time watching the party goers around them. The people around them were enjoying themselves, bad language and some “adult beverages” to quote a friend were all around.
On the drive home Andrea had said how “happy” everyone seemed to be and how much “fun” they seemed to all be having. How it made her kind of miss that part of her life that was “care free”. I completely understood her point.
I’m backing up here to fill you in on my life and tell you how I could completely understand her point.
I was inactive in my early teens and again in my early twenties. Twice I have been away from the church, neither time having been the church going kind of girl who said prayer or read scriptures. I hadn’t read The Book of Mormon, I had one, but had no clue the power that was in it. I knew from growing up in the church that some things were true. The Power of the Priesthood, the Power of the Holy Ghost, the Power that comes in trying to be a good person.
I’ll give you a better perspective: I was 22 before I knew there were the books of Moses and Abraham hiding out behind D&C. I just never really knew what the “Pearl of Great Price” was I guess. It was easier to wean myself away from church because I didn’t “know” certain things and the things I did know weren't strong enough to compete with the "world" and it's "fun".
I want you to know that I didn’t quite what partying and playing I was doing because I wasn’t having fun and enjoying myself. I quite because the promptings of the Spirit told me to. I felt love and a quiet peace with the idea of changing what I was doing to align myself with the teachings of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Whenever I was doing things against the Lord’s will I felt guilty, not the world is going to end kind of guilt, but that unsettled feeling of knowing I was doing things that were against God. I knew that there was a better way and I was willingly choosing to make my life harder than it needed to be.
Repentance is a powerful, powerful thing. With that said, I’ll get back to Andrea and our conversation. After she had said that everyone seemed to be so “happy” the Spirit prompted my thinking and words as such. (I don’t know if I’ll remember all that I said, because it really wasn’t me speaking, but I did try to listen and remember what was being said.)
“Happy” in this reference is representing the “world” and its view. Think of JOY as representing Eternal perspective. To be happy is good, but “happy” in the world and its ways are bad. We are told by Scripture and Prophets to be in the world, but not of the world. Being “of the world” is taking us away from knowing the COMPLETE JOY that comes from following the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Knowing that He is the Son of God, He died for each of us, He Lives for each of us! Joy is putting that knowledge to use, using it to avoid the temptations of settling for just being “happy”.
Being “happy” vs. knowing what JOY is gives me the reassurance that making the changes I had in my life was the best thing I could have done! Not only for me, but for my family, my friends, and those who I will meet on this journey called life.
I now have a better understanding of what JOY truly is and how to use it in my life.
Psalms 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
May we all find JOY in this life! I am so glad for the “random” moments of learning that touch my spirit and give me a better understanding of my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and help me to put my life in perspective. I hope that I can use this new perspective in my life and LIVE a life of JOY!
Update: July 10, 2011. I just saw this on lds.org and wanted to share it with this post This is a video that was put out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that share the testimonies three other people on this subject, the same Joy I feel now that I have come to know Jesus Christ.
