‘Most putts don’t drop…’
Achieving happiness, President Gordon B. Hinckley
Wonderful thoughts regarding ‘happiness’, by President Hinckley
Enjoy your work. Be happy. I meet so many people who constantly complain about the burden of their responsibilities. Of course the pressures are great. There is much, too much, to do. There are financial burdens to add to all of these pressures, and with all of this we are prone to complain, frequently at home, often in public. Turn your thinking around. The gospel is good news. Man is that he might have joy. Be happy! Let that happiness shine through your faces and speak through your testimonies. You can expect problems. There may be occasional tragedies. But shining through all of this is the plea of the Lord:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30.)
I enjoy these words of Jenkins Lloyd Jones which I clipped from a column in the Deseret News some years ago. . . . Said he: “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. Most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” (Deseret News, 12 June 1973.) (“Four Imperatives for Religious Educators,” Church Educational System Address, September 15, 1978, p. 4.)
Enjoy your membership in the Church. Where else in all the world can you find such a society? Enjoy your activity. When I was a missionary in London fifty years ago, my companion and I would shake hands in the morning and say to one another, “Life is good.” Life in the service of the Lord is good. It is beautiful. It is rewarding. Be happy in that which you do. Cultivate a spirit of gladness in your homes. Subdue and overcome all elements of anger, impatience, and unbecoming talk one to another. (“Live the Gospel,” Ensign, November 1984, p. 86.) Our people will be a happy people, a blessed people, a people whose shepherd is our Lord, leading us through pastures green and peaceful, if we will walk after His pattern and in His light. (“God Is at the Helm,” Ensign, May 1994, p. 59.) Reach out to bless others in all that you do, that, because of your efforts, someone may live a little closer to the Lord and have a little greater happiness in his or her life. That is the end of our existence, when all is said and done: to build happiness in the lives of people, because the thing we teach is the Lord’s plan of happiness. (Boston Massachusetts Regional Conference, priesthood leadership session, April 22, 1995.)
If we will live the gospel, if we will put our trust in God, our Eternal Father, if we will do what we are asked to do as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we will be the happiest and most blessed people on the face of the earth. (Pocatello Idaho Biregional Conference, June 4, 1995.) Live the gospel. Carry on, carry on, keep the work growing and going. . . . For too many of our people, Church membership becomes a burden instead of a source of happiness. . . . Be happy as you serve. (Church News Interview, June 7, 1995.) I hope you enjoy this work. I really do. Notwithstanding all the problems, this is a work of happiness. This is the good news! This is a work of joy! I hope you can laugh and smile and be happy and rejoice before the Lord over the great opportunity that you have to serve as a leader in carrying forth the work to the world wherever you may be assigned to go. And I’d like to say, concerning that, it doesn’t matter where you go. A soul saved in Provo is as valuable as a soul saved in Copenhagen, or anywhere else in the world. We’re out to save the sons and daughters of God by teaching them the gospel. Find your happiness doing it. (Mission Presidents Seminar, June 24, 1995.)
Keep the faith. Your happiness lies in following the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the case with all of us. “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10), said Alma to his son Corianton. That’s as true as the sunrise in the morning. “Wickedness never was happiness.” There is no happiness in doing what’s wrong. There is no happiness in sin. There is misery and pain and regret and heartache and suffering. Happiness lies in walking in righteousness. Happiness lies in faithfulness and in righteousness. (Juneau Alaska Fireside, June 18, 1995.)
It is very important to be happy in this work. We have a lot of gloomy people in the Church because they do not understand, I guess, that this is the gospel of happiness. It is something to be happy about, to get excited about. (Temple Recorders Seminar, October 23, 1995.)
I am satisfied that our Father in Heaven likes to see His children happy—not miserable, but happy. I believe He wants to see them enjoy the good things of the earth, obtained in a righteous way. I don’t think He likes to see His children in poverty and misery and trouble and wickedness and sin and want. I think He wants to see them happy. (Colorado Springs Young Adult Meeting, April 14, 1996.)
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