Take time to be still, to breathe, to wonder. Look up.

 Take time to be still, to breathe, to wonder.  Look up.  Focus on His great gift--the knowledge of who you truly are, and the understanding that trials here are fleeting and that joy here is just the beginning of  joy to come.

Patrick Kearon, Facebook Post, 12/23/2025

Believe that there is a particular gift in this season for you. Seek for quiet, solitary moments when you can ponder, pray, and feel the loving-kindness of the One whose birth makes any joy in any life possible.

Reverence and a Higher Pattern of Spirituality

Each of us can transform our discipleship into a higher pattern of spirituality by making the virtue of reverence a sacred part of our spiritual character....reverence for the sacred fosters genuine gratitude, expands true happiness, leads our minds to revelation, and brings greater joy to our lives.

Reverence for Sacred Things

April 2025

General Conference

Ulisses Soares

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/51soares?lang=eng&verse=#p

Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street

 We all should strive to exhibit joy and happiness even as we face the challenges of life. Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street. I have observed my precious companion, Mary, do this her entire life. I have appreciated her sparkling, uplifting approach even as we have faced problems throughout the years.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue

April 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/16cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Fill up your memory bank and your book of life with as many “I’m-glad-I-did” activities as you can possibly crowd into one lifetime.

We all make daily entries in our book of life. Occasionally we take it from the shelf and examine the entries we are making. What kind of memories will flood your mind as you examine the pages of your personal entries? How many pages will contain “I-wish-I-had” entries? Will there be entries of procrastination and failure to take advantage of special opportunities? Will you find there entries of thoughtlessness in treatment of family, friends, or even strangers? Will there be those of remorse resulting from acts of unrighteousness and disobedience? Will there be acts of dishonesty and lack of trust? Will there be entries showing a lack of faith and a turning to the destructive powers of worldliness?

Fortunately, each day brings a clean, white page on which to change entries from “I wish I had” to “I’m glad I did” through the process of recognition, remorse, repentance, and restitution. The harder we try to make many “I’m-glad-I-did” entries each hour of each day, the more “I-wish-I-had” marks will find their way into the corners of our minds. Feelings of depression for past acts or missed opportunities will be outshone by memory banks filled with exhilaration and enthusiasm and with the joy of living.

As you examine the memorabilia you have put into your book of life, will you find the ones prescribed by the Lord in being obedient to his laws? Will there be baptismal certificates, priesthood ordinations for both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods for the men and Pursuit of Excellence awards for the women, and, of course, a letter of honorable release from a full-time mission? Will there be current temple recommends, a marriage license for a marriage performed in the holy temple, tithing receipts, and acceptance to priesthood and auxiliary calls? Some of these mentioned may still be blank spaces as part of your future plans.

My counsel to you tonight is to fill up your memory bank and your book of life with as many “I’m-glad-I-did” activities as you can possibly crowd into one lifetime. King Benjamin in his great address counseled us on obedience by saying:

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. [Mosiah 2:41]

It is our hope and prayer that each of us will find the commitment and discipline in our lives to seek after those positive experiences that will lead to liberty and eternal life. It is my witness to you that God lives. It is by conforming our lives to his law that we will find true happiness here and eternal opportunities in the life to come.

Making Memories, L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, November 1, 1992

If you are struggling with a situation you think you should have overcome by now, don’t give up.

 If you are struggling with a situation you think you should have overcome by now, don’t give up. Be patient with yourself, keep your covenants, repent often, seek the help of your leaders if needed, and go to the house of the Lord as regularly as you can. Listen for and heed the promptings He sends you. He will not abandon His covenant relationship with you....Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught: “Surely the Lord smiles upon one who desires to come to judgment worthily, who resolutely labors day by day to replace weakness with strength. Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something refining and holy in such striving. Divine forgiveness and healing flow quite naturally to such a soul.”

Each day is a new day filled with hope and possibilities because of Jesus Christ. Each day you and I can come to know, as Mother Eve proclaimed, “the joy of our redemption,” the joy of being made whole, the joy of feeling God’s unfailing love for you.

The Joy of Our Redemption

October 2024

General Conference

Kristin M. Yee

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/32yee?lang=eng&verse=#p

[you will] have joy in [your] works for a season, and by and by the end cometh

 At a meeting I attended one Sunday, a young woman asked something like the following: “My boyfriend and I recently broke up, and he chose to leave the Church. He tells me he has never been happier. How can this be?”
The Savior answered this question when He said to the Nephites, “But if [your life is] not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you [you will] have joy in [your] works for a season, and by and by the end cometh.” There simply is no enduring joy outside the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Taking upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ

October 2018

General Conference

Robert C. Gay

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/taking-upon-ourselves-the-name-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng&verse=#p

God Didn't Design Us to Be Sad

“There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. These folks are the happiest people I know.”

“But,” Eva said, “you can’t just flip a switch and go from sad to happy.”

“No, perhaps not,” Aunt Rose smiled gently, “but God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy!3 So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do? Seems to me that the best things, like homemade bread or orange marmalade, take patience and work.”

....

 “I discovered faith. And faith led to hope. And faith and hope gave me confidence that one day everything would make sense, that because of the Savior, all the wrongs would be made right. After that, I saw that the path before me wasn’t as dreary and dusty as I had thought. I began to notice the bright blues, the verdant greens, and the fiery reds, and I decided I had a choice—I could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self-pity, or I could have a little faith, put on a bright dress, slip on my dancing shoes, and skip down the path of life, singing as I went.” Now her voice was skipping along like the girl in the painting.

Aunt Rose reached over to the end table and pulled her well-worn scriptures onto her lap. “I don’t think I was clinically depressed—I’m not sure you can talk yourself out of that. But I sure had talked myself into being miserable!"

....

Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you.

“I know a poem that says, ‘Forever—is composed of Nows.’6 

A Summer with Great Aunt Rose , Deiter F. Uchtdorf, October 2015 General Conference

As a note this entire talk is a beautiful sermon on finding joy in life.  

We all need to remember: men are that they might have joy—not guilt trips!

We all need to remember: men are that they might have joy—not guilt trips!2 We also need to remember that the Lord gives no commandments that are impossible to obey. But sometimes we fail to comprehend them fully. 

Russell M. Nelson, October 1995 General Conference, Perfection Pending

The surest step toward joy in the morning is virtue in the evening!

Courtesy to companions cannot be defiled by disobedience to the law of chastity. That sin is joy’s deadly poison. The first morning’s glance in the mirror cannot reflect joy if there is any recollection of misdeeds the night before. The surest step toward joy in the morning is virtue in the evening! Virtue includes courtesy to companions all day long.

Joy Cometh In the Morning, Russell M. Nelson, October 1986 General Conference

Anything that opposes Christ or His doctrine will interrupt our joy. That includes the philosophies of men, so abundant online and in the blogosphere

As we diligently focus on the Savior and then follow His pattern of focusing on joy, we need to avoid those things that can interrupt our joy. Remember Korihor, the anti-Christ? Spewing falsehoods about the Savior, Korihor went from place to place until he was brought before a high priest who asked him: “Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings?”25

Anything that opposes Christ or His doctrine will interrupt our joy. That includes the philosophies of men, so abundant online and in the blogosphere, which do exactly what Korihor did.26

FN 26:

Calumny, meaning a misrepresentation, is defined as a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something. Calumny was happening in the days of Korihor, and it is happening now. The Prophet Joseph Smith spoke of the invincibility of the Church even in the face of calumny. He said: “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 444).


Joy and Spiritual Survival, Russell M. Nelson, October 2016 General Conference

The Joy We Feel Has Little to Do With the Circumstances of Our Lives and Everything to Do with Focus of Our Lives

My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, which President Thomas S. Monson just taught us, and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”9 And we can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!

Joy and Spiritual Survival, Russell M. Nelson, October 2016 General Conference

He Realized That He Could No Longer Sit Around Moping

I read the account of a young man who had experienced some severe personal trials. In the course of a few months his brother died, then he lost his job, and finally his girlfriend broke up with him. Although he was feeling misunderstood by his boss and somewhat betrayed by his girlfriend, he didn’t lose his faith. In fact, he prayed to the Lord for counsel because he really wanted to be happy.

After praying, he opened the scriptures, determined to act on whatever verse he found. The book fell open to section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Almost immediately he recognized a call to action contained in these words of scripture:

Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.

And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity. [D&C 88:124–25]

As the young man pondered this counsel and applied it to his own situation, he realized that he could no longer sit around moping. He needed to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, like finding another job—and another girlfriend. There was a lot about his life that he decided to change, including his sleeping habits. He also decided to begin to pray for the gift of charity. This timely advice helped him put the past behind him and look forward to the future.

Choose Happiness, Larry R. Lawrence, BYU Speeches Mar 08, 2016

Satan's Favorite Tool - The Wedge of Discouragement

All of us need a little cheering up sometimes. Book of Mormon readers are often surprised when they come to the chapter in which Nephi was grieving over his imperfections. He expressed himself in these words: “O wretched man that I am!” (2 Nephi 4:17). Most of us on a good day wish we could be as “wretched” as Nephi. His sorrowful lament makes us wonder, “Why do good people—even prophets like Nephi—occasionally feel discouraged and unworthy?”

Let me tell you a fable about the devil that offers some perspective.10 The story goes that Satan went into his garage one day and noticed that everything was a complete mess. He couldn’t find what he was looking for because there were so many rusty tools lying around cluttering up the place.

Satan decided on a solution. He would have a garage sale. He cleaned up his old tools and offered them at a discount price for other devils to purchase. Some tools sold right away—for example, the hammer of hatred, the wrench of fear, and the clamp of addiction. They were very popular items.

When he was asked why he was selling off so many of his tools, Satan explained that he had decided to concentrate all of his personal efforts on bringing down the Latter-day Saints. He preferred to use his favorite tool on them. What do you think it was?

It was the wedge of discouragement. Satan boasted about it, saying, “With this one tool I can inflict major damage on the faithful. Discouragement works wonders every time—even when nothing else will. It can bring misery to the most conscientious souls—those who are striving to keep the commandments.”

Then Satan, using his favorite tool, went about whispering lies. To the humble followers of Christ he said, “You are worthless,” “You never do anything right,” “Give up,” “No one cares about you,” and “You can never change.” Sadly, many good people believed him.

There is a lesson to be learned from this fable. The devil specializes in discouraging the faithful and those who are trying to repent. For that very reason, Church members must continually lift and encourage each other.

Don’t forget that Satan wants all men to be “in misery, like unto himself” (2 Nephi 9:9). Jesus, on the other hand, wants men and women to “receive a fulness of joy” (D&C 138:17).

In summary, Jesus votes for us, Satan votes against us, and we cast the deciding vote. It is my prayer that each of us will use our agency to choose happiness.

Choose Happiness, Larry R. Lawrence, BYU Speeches Mar 08, 2016

Duty Was Joy

When I think of the word duty and how performing our duty can enrich our lives and the lives of others, I recall the words penned by a renowned poet and author:

I slept and dreamt
That life was joy
I awoke and saw
That life was duty
I acted and behold
Duty was joy.

Robert Louis Stevenson put it another way. Said he, “I know what pleasure is, for I have done good work.”

Thomas S. Monson, Willing and Worthy to Serve, April 2012 General Conference

A Prophet's Voice--Messages from Thomas S. Monson p. 143