Three Things

We had a great and very inspired lesson today in Relief Society and I thought I'd share it with you all.
We talked about three things we need to Cultivate in our lives to become more of who we want to be. if you want the definition: Foster the growth of/prepare for/work the soil/nurture/tend/educate/teach/refine/consciously pursue/focus on/bestow time or attention for self-improvement or for the benefit of others/advancement. President Hinkley used this word all the time when addressing the Saints.

1. Happiness. Happiness is something that the majority of us truly have to cultivate. We have to work on it daily. We choose it. Elder jack deJager said "Words such as reap, restored, and desire imply that happiness is a consequence, not a reward. We are restored to a state of happiness when we have chosen to live according to the plan of happiness. Our joy in God's kingdom will be a natural extension of the happiness we CULTIVATE in this life...Striving for happiness is a long, hard journey with many challenges. It requires eternal vigilance to win the victory. You cannot succeed with sporadic little flashes of effort." So what do you DO to bring happiness in to your life?
Some people said serving others, one woman said "do the opposite of unhappy people", some said smile even if you don't feel like it, and so on. As I was listening to what other people were saying I thought about what brings happiness into my life. I've noticed there are three things that can really impact my happiness. First, a clean house. When my house isn't clean I feel gloomy. I also tend to snap at the people I love a little more. Second is exercise. If I don't exercise I feel yucky and lethargic. And I tend to snap at the people I love a little more. Third, is my relationship with my Heavenly Father. When I'm ignoring it I'm annoyed easily, and tend to snap at everybody.
When I have these three things in order I am truly much happier, and easier to be around.
So I want to think about the things that help you to feel happy and start doing them!

2. Holy Ghost: What effect does the Holy Ghost have on you? Does it make you angry? Mad, depressed or scared? NO! It "inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature...inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, charity, develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It invigorates...strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short...marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being." Parley P. Pratt.
What are you DOING to Cultivate the Holy Ghost in your life? These last few days I turned off the T.V. and just enjoyed silence. At first it was semi-annoying since Chris was gone, but soon I was able to have some very special experiences and even some personal revelation. I'm thankful for that. Have you ever met anybody that exudes the Holy Ghost? I have and it's amazing to be around.

3. Temple: You need to Cultivate a love for the temple. Think about this. As you attend the Temple you are inviting the Spirit into your life, and if you have the spirit in your life you will be happy. That is a fruit of the spirit. Maybe you say you don't have time to do a full session once a week. Do Initiatories. There are some other things you can do that take less time but you still receive all of the blessings. This is something that I have to work on. I love the temple, but it took multiple trips for me to love it. The teacher asked us What are you SACRIFICING to get there? That hit me. I'm not sacrificing anything. I go when it's convenient. Our teacher said that she was going once a month, and at the same time struggling with some things in her life. So she took it to Heavenly Father and asked Him what to do. She felt the question of sacrifice asked to her. She decided one of the things she could sacrifice was sleep. Yup. Sleep. She gets up once a week at 4:45 am, and is home by 7:30 am. To me that's amazing and inspiring. So I'm thinking of ways that I can get to the temple more often, and if not with Chris then by myself.

I know this is a long post but I felt like it was worth sharing. Sometimes we feel like something is missing in our life and I really believe that as we work on these three things we will find that we feel more complete and fulfilled. Suddenly what we feel is one of life's gargantuan problems becomes more like an average thunderstorm and conquerable.

I'm really going to try to work on these three things. I'll let you know how it goes in a month. :)