Living a life of Peace, Joy and Purpose will bring Happiness
How do you want your life to be? Full of turmoil and stress? Picking up
the pieces and never knowing from one minute to the next what will happen or if
you will be able to handle it?
Or would you prefer a life of peace, joy and purpose? Where you have a
calm and quiet inside of you and can move on without fear knowing that everything
will be ok and things will work out for good?
We are so blessed to have to gospel of Christ in our lives. If we choose to,
we can all have the latter type of life by following the road map we've been given.
It is important to note that we are not free to choose what happens to us but
we are free to choose how we handle the things that come our way.
Much of my talk will be centered around a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott
found in the February 2014 issue of the Ensign, entitled Living a Life of Peace, Joy
and Purpose. He also wrote a book called Finding Peace, Joy and Happiness. Both
are excellent sources of guidance if you would like to delve more in depth than my
talk will take this topic.
If you take a minute and think about the world you will probably agree that
our world has crumbling values. Principle, virtue, integrity, religion, have all
declined for the majority of our world.
Heavenly Father has given us a road map and we much exercise faith and
follow His plan in order to find the peace, joy and purpose that we are seeking.
Part of finding joy in our lives may stem back to our perspective. Imagine
for a minute that you have a pebble in your shoe and a lollipop in your mouth. (You
can try this at home later if you'd like). Take a walk around the room. What is it
you think about? Probably in most cases it is the stone in your shoe and not the
sweet in your mouth.
What is your perspective on adversity? Do you only recognize the bad
things and not the good?
By following Heavenly Father's plan hopefully one of the things we can
learn is perspective and being able to recognize the good and minimize the bad in
our lives.
So what are some of the things we need to do?
how challenging the circumstance.
you.
you implement the impressions you receive.
Sometimes answers come over an extended period of time.
*Trust in God and in His desire to provide the help when needed, no matter
*Obey His commandments and live a life that demonstrates the He can trust
*Be sensitive to the quiet promptings of the Spirit and be courageous as
*Be patient and understanding when God lets you struggle and grow.
God uses faith to build your character. Character is woven patiently over
time through trials and testing in your life. The decisions you make now will affect
you now and for eternity.
Think about food storage. You have to fill your pantry (sometimes for
years) and then when you need it, it is there. Character is the same way. You must
develop good traits and habits now so that you will have the ability and strength
when you need it later. As you develop your character you will become more able to
conquer the trials of your life.
Satan would have us destroy our character by opposing the commandments
and will of our Father. He would have us be disobedient and tell us that there are
rewards and pleasures that outweigh following the commandments. So be careful.
You will be faced with many choices. Make your decisions wisely and prayerfully.
There is no guarantee that life will be easy for anyone. We grow more
rapidly by facing and overcoming challenges. However, there are some challenges
that we NEVER need to encounter. They are associated with serious transgression.
As you continue to avoid such tragedy, life will be simpler and happier. You will
see others around you make wrong choices and recognize the sadness that those
choices bring.
I wrote in the margin of this paragraph “THINK”! Given scenerios I
believe we all know the proper choice in situations. But do we have the courage to
choose the proper choice?
Many of you know that I work here in the city as the Justice Court Clerk.
In my job I see minor consuming alcohol tickets, DUIs, minor drug charges, spousal
abuse, and theft among other things. All of these types of behaviors (and subsequent
consequences) could easily be avoided by living the commandments.
I think many times it seems fun to party and get drunk and play. And we
KNOW that this isn't the right choice but it sounds more fun that a quiet evening at
home. And then the consequences come. We might lose our driver license, have to
go to jail, have to pay a large fine, lose our job, become addicted. It seems so
harmless on the early side of these decisions and then it spirals out of control. I have
seen people unable to dig themselves out and surrender to suicide.
The thing that is so heart breaking about it all is that in many cases it could
have been avoided just by following the commandments and choosing the right.
Don't justify and rationalize. Choose the right.
So what can we do? Do what you KNOW you SHOULD do!
Build a good family
1. Rejoice in your companionship – love and cherish your spouse, your
parents, and your children.
2. Don't have secrets – work together in righteousness
3. Decide issues together – let your family help you if you are struggling.
4. Study the scriptures and pray.
5. Go to the temple and honor your covenants.
6. Hold fast to the word of God.
7. Keep the Sabbath day holy
8. Consistently serve
YOU are needed!
Don't live for this moment...but keep an eternal perspective.
True lasting happiness – the kind you feel early in the morning when you are honest
with yourself is won only by obedience to the word of God.
To succeed in life follow 10 steps I will go over in a minute.
Life is hard, don't make it harder.
For just a moment think about an egg and a carrot. When you boil them
what happens? One gets hard and the other gets soft.
So it is with us!
The adversity in life can strengthen us and buoy us to bigger better things or it
can beat us down and smash us and destroy us. In many cases the choice is ours by
how we react.
So what is the PLAN?
1. Establish principles which will guide your life – don't have your
“church” standards, and your “school” standards and your “Friday
night” standards . Set your standards and keep them everywhere.
2. Don't make exceptions to your standards – Be loyal to your teachings
no matter the circumstance.
3. Be loyal – Be loyal to your family and your loved ones and Christ. Be
consistent in following the teachings of the Lord.
4. Live so that the Lord can guide you to where HE wants you to be
and serve. He can do this if we live worthily and strive to be obedient.
In our lives we have felt guided that it was time to leave a home and
then guided to where our new home should be. Looking back I can see
the Lord's hand in our lives as he gently guided us to what would be
best for our family.
5. Serve others – this will bring happiness and blessing to your life and
the life of those you serve. I have had many opportunities to serve
others and while it is sometimes hard to get out to complete the service I
have found time and time again that I feel uplifted and I benefited from
serving others. It is truly a miracle for the ones you serve and yourself.
6. Smile – Life is not all bad. Everybody has problems and nobody wants
to hear about yours – put away your problems and smile! Have a good
sense of humor.
7. Don't complain – Life isn't always fair A saying we like to use at our
house is “Get off your pity pot Nancy!” I'm not saying you shouldn't
talk about things that are frustrating you however it is always more
pleasant to be around someone who is happy.
8. Always have a church assignment – always offer yourself up and get
busy wherever you are.
9. Go to the temple – pretty much anybody from the age of 12 on up
should try to live worthy to obtain a recommend and then use it once
you have it.
10. Use the Savior as your example. Follow his teachings and don't make
exceptions to them.
Bishop Carnevale asked us to speak on how Gospel service has blessed our
lives.
What an amazing and great topic for our family because truly without the
gospel in our lives I don't believe we would even be a family.
I grew up in New Jersey and Andy was born in Las Vegas then lived in
Missouri and Texas before his family settled back in Utah. We were 2000 miles
apart. Andy was called to serve in the Philadelphia, PA mission at 19. Imagine if
he had chosen not to serve.
Elder Griffin served in my ward early in his mission when I was 16. His
companion was sick so he was grounded. To not waste time he got on the phone and
started making dinner appointments for every night of the week. Our family was one
of those appointments. At some point Elder Griffin mentioned he needed to practice
for an upcoming program he was to sing in. I played while he sang.
So at this point in our lives we are both doing what the Lord would have us
do – I was going to church and developing my talents, Elder Griffin was serving a
mission.
Both of us continued on with our lives and at the end of his mission Elder
Griffin was again assigned to our Stake. In NJ the Stake boundaries are HUGE – so
he was not close to my home however Stake Conference was held at my church
house. So using his connections from serving in our area before he lined up another
dinner appointment.
At this point I was planning to attend BYU starting just 3 weeks after his
mission ended. I knew no one west of Ohio so we arranged to have Elder Griffin
pick me up at the airport and deliver me to BYU. He's been picking me up and
driving me around ever since!
We like to joke that he brought a souvenir home from his mission.
All kidding aside, I truly believe as we follow the teachings of the gospel and
serve we will be blessed beyond measure.
I have seen it over and over again in my own life.
Serving in the church has helped me to develop study skills as I have tried
to plan for talks or lessons.
It has helped me to gain confidence as I conquer speaking and teaching in
front of others.
It has helped develop my leadership as I have worked with the scouts and
the young women.
It has helped me develop friendships and talents. I have grown so much in
my ability to play the piano. It has taken me many years and many tears to
overcome playing in front of others. I'm still working on it. I would never have
developed my skills if I hadn't been challenged over and over again at church.
I can see how the gospel has blessed my children also. I think first and
foremost we have a road map. We know what we should do and we teach it to our
children at an early age before the world can give them other ideas.
As I have watched my children grow up I have had many aha moments.
One of the things that I think I have realized is why something was important...years
after the fact.
So many of the teachings we have we may not understand – which is why
we need to have faith and follow the Lord's plan even if we don't understand it at the
time.
We can see the wiseness in the word of wisdom as we learn more about
health and wellness. We understand dating as we watch young people struggle with
adult issues at early ages. We can see the wisdom of not using drugs or alcohol or
tobacco as we watch others battle with addiction and consequences of actions while
on drugs. There are so many examples I can't list them all. What a blessing that is to
have a road map even if we don't fully understand why we are following it until
later.
We are so blessed to have Primary lessons that our children learn each week
that will help them cope with school and life.
Also, think about the opportunity for our small children to get up and give
talks and bear testimony from the age of a sunbeam. When you start that little you
conquer that fear before it even sets in!
The songs that we sing each week that will stay in their minds and they will
remember them when they need them.
I know that I have been blessed to have the gospel in my life.
I am blessed to have a husband that honors his priesthood. I am blessed to
be able to receive a blessing if I need it. I am fortunate to have children that can also
see the value of the Lord's plan and try to follow it.
I hope that as they grow and leave home that they will have instilled in them
the knowledge of the Gospel and always desire to follow the teachings of the Lord.
I hope that everyone here also realizes the great gem that we possess having
the knowledge of the gospel in our lives. If you are feeling overwhelmed and
stressed take time to study the words of our apostle, Richard G. Scott and apply his
principles in your life. He is truly inspired.
How do you want your life to be? Full of turmoil and stress? Picking up
the pieces and never knowing from one minute to the next what will happen or if
you will be able to handle it?
Or would you prefer a life of peace, joy and purpose? Where you have a
calm and quiet inside of you and can move on without fear knowing that everything
will be ok and things will work out for good?
We are so blessed to have to gospel of Christ in our lives. If we choose to,
we can all have the latter type of life by following the road map we've been given.
It is important to note that we are not free to choose what happens to us but
we are free to choose how we handle the things that come our way.
Much of my talk will be centered around a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott
found in the February 2014 issue of the Ensign, entitled Living a Life of Peace, Joy
and Purpose. He also wrote a book called Finding Peace, Joy and Happiness. Both
are excellent sources of guidance if you would like to delve more in depth than my
talk will take this topic.
If you take a minute and think about the world you will probably agree that
our world has crumbling values. Principle, virtue, integrity, religion, have all
declined for the majority of our world.
Heavenly Father has given us a road map and we much exercise faith and
follow His plan in order to find the peace, joy and purpose that we are seeking.
Part of finding joy in our lives may stem back to our perspective. Imagine
for a minute that you have a pebble in your shoe and a lollipop in your mouth. (You
can try this at home later if you'd like). Take a walk around the room. What is it
you think about? Probably in most cases it is the stone in your shoe and not the
sweet in your mouth.
What is your perspective on adversity? Do you only recognize the bad
things and not the good?
By following Heavenly Father's plan hopefully one of the things we can
learn is perspective and being able to recognize the good and minimize the bad in
our lives.
So what are some of the things we need to do?
how challenging the circumstance.
you.
you implement the impressions you receive.
Sometimes answers come over an extended period of time.
*Trust in God and in His desire to provide the help when needed, no matter
*Obey His commandments and live a life that demonstrates the He can trust
*Be sensitive to the quiet promptings of the Spirit and be courageous as
*Be patient and understanding when God lets you struggle and grow.
God uses faith to build your character. Character is woven patiently over
time through trials and testing in your life. The decisions you make now will affect
you now and for eternity.
Think about food storage. You have to fill your pantry (sometimes for
years) and then when you need it, it is there. Character is the same way. You must
develop good traits and habits now so that you will have the ability and strength
when you need it later. As you develop your character you will become more able to
conquer the trials of your life.
Satan would have us destroy our character by opposing the commandments
and will of our Father. He would have us be disobedient and tell us that there are
rewards and pleasures that outweigh following the commandments. So be careful.
You will be faced with many choices. Make your decisions wisely and prayerfully.
There is no guarantee that life will be easy for anyone. We grow more
rapidly by facing and overcoming challenges. However, there are some challenges
that we NEVER need to encounter. They are associated with serious transgression.
As you continue to avoid such tragedy, life will be simpler and happier. You will
see others around you make wrong choices and recognize the sadness that those
choices bring.
I wrote in the margin of this paragraph “THINK”! Given scenerios I
believe we all know the proper choice in situations. But do we have the courage to
choose the proper choice?
Many of you know that I work here in the city as the Justice Court Clerk.
In my job I see minor consuming alcohol tickets, DUIs, minor drug charges, spousal
abuse, and theft among other things. All of these types of behaviors (and subsequent
consequences) could easily be avoided by living the commandments.
I think many times it seems fun to party and get drunk and play. And we
KNOW that this isn't the right choice but it sounds more fun that a quiet evening at
home. And then the consequences come. We might lose our driver license, have to
go to jail, have to pay a large fine, lose our job, become addicted. It seems so
harmless on the early side of these decisions and then it spirals out of control. I have
seen people unable to dig themselves out and surrender to suicide.
The thing that is so heart breaking about it all is that in many cases it could
have been avoided just by following the commandments and choosing the right.
Don't justify and rationalize. Choose the right.
So what can we do? Do what you KNOW you SHOULD do!
Build a good family
1. Rejoice in your companionship – love and cherish your spouse, your
parents, and your children.
2. Don't have secrets – work together in righteousness
3. Decide issues together – let your family help you if you are struggling.
4. Study the scriptures and pray.
5. Go to the temple and honor your covenants.
6. Hold fast to the word of God.
7. Keep the Sabbath day holy
8. Consistently serve
YOU are needed!
Don't live for this moment...but keep an eternal perspective.
True lasting happiness – the kind you feel early in the morning when you are honest
with yourself is won only by obedience to the word of God.
To succeed in life follow 10 steps I will go over in a minute.
Life is hard, don't make it harder.
For just a moment think about an egg and a carrot. When you boil them
what happens? One gets hard and the other gets soft.
So it is with us!
The adversity in life can strengthen us and buoy us to bigger better things or it
can beat us down and smash us and destroy us. In many cases the choice is ours by
how we react.
So what is the PLAN?
1. Establish principles which will guide your life – don't have your
“church” standards, and your “school” standards and your “Friday
night” standards . Set your standards and keep them everywhere.
2. Don't make exceptions to your standards – Be loyal to your teachings
no matter the circumstance.
3. Be loyal – Be loyal to your family and your loved ones and Christ. Be
consistent in following the teachings of the Lord.
4. Live so that the Lord can guide you to where HE wants you to be
and serve. He can do this if we live worthily and strive to be obedient.
In our lives we have felt guided that it was time to leave a home and
then guided to where our new home should be. Looking back I can see
the Lord's hand in our lives as he gently guided us to what would be
best for our family.
5. Serve others – this will bring happiness and blessing to your life and
the life of those you serve. I have had many opportunities to serve
others and while it is sometimes hard to get out to complete the service I
have found time and time again that I feel uplifted and I benefited from
serving others. It is truly a miracle for the ones you serve and yourself.
6. Smile – Life is not all bad. Everybody has problems and nobody wants
to hear about yours – put away your problems and smile! Have a good
sense of humor.
7. Don't complain – Life isn't always fair A saying we like to use at our
house is “Get off your pity pot Nancy!” I'm not saying you shouldn't
talk about things that are frustrating you however it is always more
pleasant to be around someone who is happy.
8. Always have a church assignment – always offer yourself up and get
busy wherever you are.
9. Go to the temple – pretty much anybody from the age of 12 on up
should try to live worthy to obtain a recommend and then use it once
you have it.
10. Use the Savior as your example. Follow his teachings and don't make
exceptions to them.
Bishop Carnevale asked us to speak on how Gospel service has blessed our
lives.
What an amazing and great topic for our family because truly without the
gospel in our lives I don't believe we would even be a family.
I grew up in New Jersey and Andy was born in Las Vegas then lived in
Missouri and Texas before his family settled back in Utah. We were 2000 miles
apart. Andy was called to serve in the Philadelphia, PA mission at 19. Imagine if
he had chosen not to serve.
Elder Griffin served in my ward early in his mission when I was 16. His
companion was sick so he was grounded. To not waste time he got on the phone and
started making dinner appointments for every night of the week. Our family was one
of those appointments. At some point Elder Griffin mentioned he needed to practice
for an upcoming program he was to sing in. I played while he sang.
So at this point in our lives we are both doing what the Lord would have us
do – I was going to church and developing my talents, Elder Griffin was serving a
mission.
Both of us continued on with our lives and at the end of his mission Elder
Griffin was again assigned to our Stake. In NJ the Stake boundaries are HUGE – so
he was not close to my home however Stake Conference was held at my church
house. So using his connections from serving in our area before he lined up another
dinner appointment.
At this point I was planning to attend BYU starting just 3 weeks after his
mission ended. I knew no one west of Ohio so we arranged to have Elder Griffin
pick me up at the airport and deliver me to BYU. He's been picking me up and
driving me around ever since!
We like to joke that he brought a souvenir home from his mission.
All kidding aside, I truly believe as we follow the teachings of the gospel and
serve we will be blessed beyond measure.
I have seen it over and over again in my own life.
Serving in the church has helped me to develop study skills as I have tried
to plan for talks or lessons.
It has helped me to gain confidence as I conquer speaking and teaching in
front of others.
It has helped develop my leadership as I have worked with the scouts and
the young women.
It has helped me develop friendships and talents. I have grown so much in
my ability to play the piano. It has taken me many years and many tears to
overcome playing in front of others. I'm still working on it. I would never have
developed my skills if I hadn't been challenged over and over again at church.
I can see how the gospel has blessed my children also. I think first and
foremost we have a road map. We know what we should do and we teach it to our
children at an early age before the world can give them other ideas.
As I have watched my children grow up I have had many aha moments.
One of the things that I think I have realized is why something was important...years
after the fact.
So many of the teachings we have we may not understand – which is why
we need to have faith and follow the Lord's plan even if we don't understand it at the
time.
We can see the wiseness in the word of wisdom as we learn more about
health and wellness. We understand dating as we watch young people struggle with
adult issues at early ages. We can see the wisdom of not using drugs or alcohol or
tobacco as we watch others battle with addiction and consequences of actions while
on drugs. There are so many examples I can't list them all. What a blessing that is to
have a road map even if we don't fully understand why we are following it until
later.
We are so blessed to have Primary lessons that our children learn each week
that will help them cope with school and life.
Also, think about the opportunity for our small children to get up and give
talks and bear testimony from the age of a sunbeam. When you start that little you
conquer that fear before it even sets in!
The songs that we sing each week that will stay in their minds and they will
remember them when they need them.
I know that I have been blessed to have the gospel in my life.
I am blessed to have a husband that honors his priesthood. I am blessed to
be able to receive a blessing if I need it. I am fortunate to have children that can also
see the value of the Lord's plan and try to follow it.
I hope that as they grow and leave home that they will have instilled in them
the knowledge of the Gospel and always desire to follow the teachings of the Lord.
I hope that everyone here also realizes the great gem that we possess having
the knowledge of the gospel in our lives. If you are feeling overwhelmed and
stressed take time to study the words of our apostle, Richard G. Scott and apply his
principles in your life. He is truly inspired.
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