{"id":2770,"date":"1995-09-19T11:28:38","date_gmt":"1995-09-19T17:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speeches-dev.byu.edu\/?p=2770"},"modified":"2021-03-15T10:47:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:47:54","slug":"living-manner-of-happiness","status":"publish","type":"speech","link":"https:\/\/speeches-dev.byu.edu\/talks\/marlin-k-jensen\/living-manner-of-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Living After the Manner of Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
Good morning, my beloved young brothers and sisters. Thank you for inviting me to be here with you today.<\/p>\n
Nothing reminds me so forcefully of my advancing years as facing an audience of vibrant and wholesome young people like you. For years I gave little credence to the so-called generation gap, but now I\u2019m willing to at least allow that such a social phenomenon exists. Periodic personal encounters with those of your age group reinforce my suspicions that I probably have less and less to say that you may find relevant or interesting. For instance, not many years ago, when our oldest son was a senior in high school, I noticed him one morning in the vicinity of my clothes closet. At breakfast I noted that I had seen him examining my wardrobe and gently inquired whether I really owned something that he would consider worthy of wearing. To my chagrin, but not necessarily to my surprise, he said, \u201cRelax, Dad, we\u2019re having nerd day at school tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n
I sincerely hope my prayers will be answered today so there will be no gaps between what I feel and say and what you feel and understand. There is an old Jewish saying that words spoken from the heart are carried into the heart. What I wish to say today truly comes from my heart, and I hope it will have meaning and application for you during the wonderful years of your lives that lie ahead.<\/p>\n
There are principles and truths that are unchanging, eternal, and timeless. Such are those that bring happiness to our lives. This has been a subject of interest to me for many years because although I am richly blessed and have every reason to be happy, I sometimes struggle with myself and do not always have the natural inclination toward happiness and a cheerful disposition that some people seem to enjoy.<\/p>\n
For that reason, several years ago a Book of Mormon passage caught my attention. It\u2019s in the first part of the Book of Mormon\u2014the part our family specializes in\u2014and concerns the period of time just after Nephi separated from Laman and Lemuel and departed into the wilderness. There Nephi established a society founded on gospel truths; of that society in 2 Nephi 5:27 he says: \u201cAnd it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.\u201d To paraphrase the Prophet Joseph, \u201cNever did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine\u201d (JS\u2014H 1:12). I pondered what it could mean to live \u201cafter the manner of happiness.\u201d I knew it had to be related to the gospel and God\u2019s plan for our lives. In fact, sometimes his prophets call that plan the \u201cplan of happiness.\u201d I remembered, too, that Joseph Smith said that \u201chappiness is the object and design of our existence\u201d\u00a0(Teachings,\u00a0<\/i>p. 255). I wondered, though, what the individual elements of a truly happy society and life might be, and I began to search Nephi\u2019s writings for clues. I wish to share with you today my tentative findings, primarily from 2 Nephi, chapter 5, and invite you to conduct your own personal search. It could be a lifelong and worthwhile pursuit.<\/p>\nFamily<\/b><\/h2>\n
I begin with 2 Nephi 5:6 with Nephi\u2019s observation that as he journeyed into the wilderness, \u201cI .\u00a0.\u00a0. did take my family .\u00a0.\u00a0. and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters.\u201d Here indeed is a significant key to happiness\u2014one\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
There was good reason that Nephi took his more righteous siblings with him into the wilderness. He belonged to them and they belonged to him. There is no other organization that can so completely satisfy our need for belonging and provide the resulting happiness that a family can.<\/p>\n
Those of you who are away from home for the first time this fall probably left thinking, \u201cFree at last!\u201d Now that you\u2019ve been without parental supervision for a few weeks and are getting used to the idea that you can sleep anytime and eat anything you want, I suspect in some of your quiet moments you have a little queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach commonly know as homesickness. I\u2019ll bet you\u2019ve even peeked far enough ahead in your day planners to see how many more days there are until Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks! Why is there this yearning for home and loved ones? I believe it is a universal, God-given instinct that all people in all cultures are blessed with. I also believe that a loving Heavenly Father gives it to us, because within the family we experience most of life\u2019s greatest joys. The sights, sounds, and associations of family and home are among our most treasured memories and provide our fondest anticipations.<\/p>\n
Sometimes after an enjoyable family home evening, or during a fervent family prayer, or when our entire family is at the dinner table on Sunday evening eating waffles and engaging in a session of lively, good-natured conversation, I quietly say to myself: \u201cIf heaven is nothing more than this, it will be good enough for me!\u201d<\/p>\n
For the next ingredient of a happy life, I go to 2 Nephi 5:10. Nephi writes: \u201cAnd we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here is a simple but powerful truth: living righteously, keeping God\u2019s commandments, makes us happy. The very quotable Alma gave us the all-time best one-liner on this topic when he said: \u201cWickedness never was happiness\u201d (Alma 41:10). That\u2019s a sound bite worthy of the six o\u2019clock news! As best as I can tell, based on my own experience and my observations of others, Alma\u2019s is as categorical a statement as can be made on the subject, and our chances of proving Alma wrong are about zero.<\/p>\n
In May of 1957, at the invitation of President David O. McKay, Cecil B. DeMille, renowned producer of motion pictures, gave the commencement address here at BYU<\/a>. His latest production,\u00a0The Ten Commandments,\u00a0<\/i>which has become a classic, had been filmed with some technical advice from President McKay; and in the course of its production a close friendship had formed. Following a tender introduction by President McKay in which he praised the nobility and character of his friend, Cecil B. DeMille stunned the BYU graduates with a masterful and wonderfully brief address on the purpose of God\u2019s laws. Drawing on the lesson of the orgy of the golden calf from chapter 32 of the book of Exodus, Mr. DeMille noted that the children of Israel had been freed from the bitter bondage of Egypt and had seen the wonders of God in the desert and in the divided sea. They were free, they thought. Then Moses left them to go up the mountain to receive the law. As Mr. DeMille observed:<\/p>\n No sooner was he gone the short space of forty days and nights, when, in spite of all his teaching, in spite of all the marvels they had seen God work, the children of Israel became slaves again\u2014not this time of a tyrant like Pharaoh, but slaves of their own passions and their own fears.<\/i>\u00a0[BYU Speeches of the Year,<\/i>31 May 1957, p. 6]<\/p>\n Then, in perhaps the emotional high point of his address, Cecil B. DeMille imparted this powerful insight concerning the keeping of God\u2019s laws:<\/p>\n Some, who do not know either the Bible or human nature, may see in the orgy of the Golden Calf only a riot of Hollywood\u2019s imaginations\u2014but those who have eyes to see will see in it the awful lesson of how quickly a nation or a man can fall, without God\u2019s Law.<\/i><\/p>\n If man will not be ruled by God, he will certainly be ruled by tyrants\u2014and there is no tyranny more imperious or more devastating than man\u2019s own selfishness, without the law.<\/i><\/p>\n We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them.\u00a0<\/i>[p. 6]<\/p>\n From the depths of my soul today I testify to you, my young friends, that we cannot break God\u2019s laws; we can only break ourselves against them. Satan wants us to believe we are an exception to God\u2019s rules, that somehow our transgressions are more noble, more justifiable, than anyone\u2019s have ever been, but that is a lie. And not only do we offend God by breaking his laws, we also offend ourselves and others and thereby experience heartache, suffering, and misery\u2014the exact opposites of happiness.<\/p>\n There is no more poignant description of the contrast between the pain of rebellion and the joy of obedience to divine law than the one given by Alma to his son Helaman:<\/p>\n Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.\u00a0<\/i>[Alma 36:21]<\/p>\n One of the keys to a truly happy life is to learn this lesson as early as possible\u2014preferably vicariously\u2014and to never forget it.<\/p>\n Next, in 2 Nephi 5:11, Nephi observes that \u201cwe did prosper exceedingly; for we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance.\u201d Now, before you go accusing me of really living in a little house on the prairie, let me read to you from a general conference address of President Spencer W. Kimball given in April of 1978:<\/p>\nPlanting and Harvesting<\/b><\/h2>\n