Digital Only: Young Adults
Lessons on Happiness from Saints in the Scriptures
We’re all searching for happiness, and the examples of Saints in the scriptures can point us in the right direction.
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The world is a sad place sometimes. On both a personal and global level, there’s distress, unfairness, and suffering. At one point or another, we all discover that we’re “trav’ling thru [a] vale of tears.”1
Yet we’re also taught that “men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25).
How can this add up?
In the scriptures, people from all dispensations have sought to establish Zion and obtain the happiness that prevails there. And some of them have been wildly successful! As we read about those Saints, we learn where to find great joy even amid great trials.
The People of Alma: Keeping Covenants
At their secret rendezvous near the waters of Mormon, the people of Alma “clapped their hands for joy” (Mosiah 18:11) when they learned that they could enter into “the fold of God” (Mosiah 18:8) through the covenant of baptism. They also received the Holy Ghost (Mosiah 18:13), which, according to President James E. Faust (1920–2007), is “the greatest guarantor of inward peace in our unstable world.”2
The people of Alma worked hard to keep the Spirit with them as they “walk[ed] uprightly before God” (Mosiah 18:29). And keeping their covenant proved critical to their happiness—when they found themselves in bondage, the Lord delivered them because they kept their covenant: “Lift up your heads … for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:13).
The people of Alma clearly understood what Sister Jean B. Bingham, former Relief Society General President, recently taught: “Happiness is hollow if we exchange the blessings of eternal joy for momentary ease. … The key to lasting happiness is living the gospel of Jesus Christ and keeping our covenants.”3
The Nephites of 4 Nephi: Eliminating Labels
After a visitation from the resurrected Savior, the Nephites spent nearly two hundred years living in harmony. “Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God” (4 Nephi 1:16).
One of their strategies for happiness was establishing equality:
“There were not rich and poor, bond and free …
“Neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites” (4 Nephi 1:3, 17).
It sounds simple, but establishing this impartiality must’ve taken work, since prior to the Savior’s visit, “the people were divided one against another” (3 Nephi 7:2).
The world often imposes dividing labels. As President Russell M. Nelson recently told young adults, “The adversary rejoices in labels because they divide us and restrict the way we think about ourselves and each other.”4 The hierarchies we create through labels are not of God—“He inviteth … all to come unto him and partake of his goodness” (2 Nephi 26:33).
As the Nephites fostered equality among themselves, “the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land” (4 Nephi 1:7).
The City of Enoch: Uniting in Love
The city of Enoch is the only example in scripture of an entire community being “taken up into heaven” (Moses 7:23). If heaven is “dwell[ing] with God in a state of never-ending happiness” (Mosiah 2:41), the city of Enoch is the ultimate example for us to follow!
So how did they do it?
They “were of one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18)—banded together in pursuit of eternal glory. Teamwork like that takes the pure love of Christ because it involves hoping and working for the exaltation of other people—ultimate selflessness!
The city of Enoch must have learned from Enoch how to love God’s children in this way. When shown “all the doings of the children of men,” Enoch “looked upon their wickedness … and wept … and his heart swelled wide as eternity” (Moses 7:41).
When we feel Christlike love for others, we encourage them to join us on the path to exaltation through following Jesus Christ. Like President Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, has said: “Come unto Christ. Come now, but don’t come alone!”5
Living the Plan of Happiness
Even when gloomy hues taint your happiness, one truth can shine through: our Creator desires our eternal happiness—His plan is the plan of happiness! We exist to become infinitely happy, just like He is.
But the key word is become. We’re not trying to just feel happy. We’re trying to become happy people.
From the Saints in the scriptures, we learn that becoming happy is an actionable goal and that the overarching action item is exercising faith in God and Jesus Christ. As we read in the scriptures, it is faith that leads to obedience to God’s commandments. Faith also leads to repentance and forgiveness of our sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which helped these Saints to experience a measure of the happiness that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ enjoy—the happiness that we’re all becoming capable of.