Living After the Manner of Happiness


We are taught to watch for patterns “because repetition is a pattern related to receiving and recognizing revelation” (David A. Bednar, “Repeat Over Again … the Same Things as Before,” BYU-I Devotional, 26 January 2016). Sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday, the speaker mentioned a pattern he had recently noticed in which several talks he had been studying all used this quote from Pres. Nelson: “[T]he 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 … 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” (“Joy and Spiritual Survival,” General Conference, October 2016).
This past week we studied some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. In 2 Nephi 2, Lehi teaches us that we have been created to have joy (vs 25). Then, in 2 Nephi 5, Nephi tells us they “lived after the manner of happiness” (vs 27). I have always found this statement of Nephi’s intriguing given his writings up to this point. Think about it; Nephi has shared how they left their comfortable home and wealth in Jerusalem only to spend eight years living in the wilderness eating raw meat. There were broken bows, the monumental task of building a ship with no previous experience, and then setting sail for a new land. While sharing these stories, Nephi also shares several experiences when he endured his brothers’ mistreatment which had finally led to their recent separation. So, why amid all this hardship does Nephi think it is important to tell us they lived after the manner of happiness?
I saw a quote shared this past week that started a pattern of repetition for me. It says, “Everyone pursues happiness. Some people just take a more direct route” (https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MQ_XgBMWV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link). I want to take the direct route.
What does it mean to “live after the manner of happiness?” And, what is the most direct route? I don’t think it means that we will be happy all the time – every day. Nephi certainly points out that life, even for the righteous, is going to have challenges and heartache. Yet, amid those challenges and heartache, he invites to “live after the manner of happiness” by showing us the pattern of how. In other words, he shows us the direct route to happiness. See if you can find the 11 steps he identifies in 2 Nephi 5:1-27.
Elder Holland sums it up this way: “your best chance for being happy is to do the things that happy people do, live the way happy people live, and walk the path that happy people walk. As you do so, your chances to find joy in unexpected moments, to find peace in unexpected places, and to find the help of angels when you didn’t even know they knew you existed improve exponentially. … Above all else, ultimate happiness, true peace, and anything even remotely close to scriptural joy are found first, foremost, and forever in living the gospel of Jesus Christ” (“The Gospel Path to Happiness,” Ensign, September 2017). Every day we are given the opportunity to choose whether we are going to take the direct route or whether we are going to take the long way or perhaps even a detour in our pursuit of happiness. Which route are you choosing today?

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