Everyday Happiness

Living The Gospel does not always result in immediate happiness, especially when I look at my life with a day to day perspective. But when I look at my whole life and ask what it would look like today if, in the past, I had followed my own path instead of the Saviors, I realize how much happiness living the Gospel has allotted me. Without the Gospel in my life in the past, today I would probably be a lesser happy version of Sam; a version that would still have my same personality and maybe some of the same friends, but definitely not a Sam with the recognition of self-worth that I have today. Because of lessons I’ve learned from living obediently in the past, I know today that the Lord lives and that He wants me to be triumphant over sin. Living the Gospel is a long-term process that helps me understand my self-worth or eternal value. Gospel teaches me, repeatedly (thankfully), that I am a Child of God and that I belong to a heavenly family. This helps me understand that I am worth something to someone. And, not just anyone, I am worth something to God; the very Creator of the universe and all things in it.

On those days that I don’t want to live the Gospel, I just remind myself that one bad day cannot (or at least should not) stop me from a life-time goal of wanting to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. In fact, those days that are the hardest kind of help me know that I am on the right path because the Savior’s life was hard and it was filled with days that I am sure He did not want to experience. And sometimes I am happiest on those days that are hardest to live the Gospel because, on those days, I am more likely to turn to the Savior and seek His guidance and protection. Therefore, I choose to follow the Savior Jesus Christ every day because I know that doing so will bring me true happiness, whether that happiness is experienced right away or later on.

Samuel W. Platt
(photos taken by Samuel)