Finding Joy in Life

Clark's parents sent us a great talk to read and asked that we each make a comment on our blogs so that we could learn from each other. So, Clark and I read it yesterday, and it was a talk that came at the perfect time for us. It was the talk, Finding Joy in Life, by Elder Richard G. Scott. I've posted the link in case anyone wants to read it. So here are the things that stood out to us:

Sadness, Disappointment, and challenges are events in life, not life itself.
The things that go on in our lives sometimes seem so large and unbearable that we often think they are our lives. The truth is, they are just events that go on in our lives. It is our job to try to put these events in their proper places, knowing that the Lord has a plan for us and that the events are all part of his great plan and are often his way of helping us become the people we need to become. Elder Scott said, "Challenges are growth experiences, temporary scenes to be played out on the background of a pleasant life."

Men are that they MIGHT have joy.
Elder Scott points out that this is a conditional statement, it doesn't say, Men will have joy. It says men might have joy. It is our job to find joy in life...despite all that goes on around us. We are promised that we will find this joy as we are obedient to the commandments, have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and attempt to do all we can on this earth to have joy.

Your joy in life depends upon your trust in Heavenly Father and His holy Son.
This one hit home for both Clark and I as we realized how closely related our joy was to our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We realized, once again, that the first place to start is faith and trust. When we have faith and trust we know that the Lord is guiding our lives and that he will not leave us alone. The happiness and joy that comes from knowing that a higher power is guiding your life, is one of the best feelings I've ever felt.

A pebble held close to the eye appears to be a gigantic obstacle. Cast on the ground, it is seen in perspective.
This one is so true! It always seems that our troubles are so big and we don't understand them, but if we can set them aside a little we can put them into proper perspective. I remember in seminary my teacher showed us a picture of a little boy pushing another little boy, they seemed to both be going after a ball. The teacher asked us what we thought about the picture. We all said that the little boy that was pushing was being mean and trying to push the little boy out of the way so he could get the ball first. The teacher the put up a larger picture. It contained the same two boys, but now in the larger picture it showed an oncoming car. The little boy was pushing the other little boy out of the way of the car. The little boy being pushed didn't see the car because he was so focused on the ball.

I think this is often what Heavenly Father does with us. We feel like we are being pushed. We feel and often ask why certain things are happening to us. Perhaps if we saw the big picture we would see that we were being pushed away from something that could harm us, or being pushed to a path that we needed. Sometimes these pushes are necessary because we are so focused on our own "balls" that we don't see the big picture.