As the saying goes - "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line" - so let get started.

Keep all the commandments

We can't expect to enjoy this religion if we don't follow the commandments to the fullest - or at least try to.

Why? Let me illustrate...

Of course there are several reasons why we keep embracing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But for the sake of illustrating, let's assume that "HAPPINESS" is main reason why we are still Mormons; we believe by so doing, the restored gospel will and can make us happy (The motive is quite selfish but I'm confident we can live with it.)

Now imagine  â€œHAPPINESSâ€� being a jigsaw puzzle. It composes of many pieces, right?

Suppose we compare the 'pieces' to blessings; for a particular obedience we give to a particular commandment, we get one piece of the puzzle (blessing). Cutting the chase short, if we obey 5% of all the commandments, we will only see 5% of the entire "image" - which is "HAPPINESS" by substitution. With only 10% of the image (happiness) in view, we can imagine how incomplete the picture would look like. If you can figure out the whole thing with so meager a look, consider yourself special – you are gifted!

But most of us who are average in category, we will begin to question – or doubt to make it more accurate. The problem is, most of the time the doubt is directed to the religion, not to ourselves -

"How come I am not happy with this religion, what's wrong with it",

Instead of  

"What is it I lack in doing, what's wrong with me?  Why can't I make this religion work?

The latter is usually the main goal of the adversary when he (in the first place) tried to tempt us not to obey fully - it's called deception . If he can't convince us to fully disobey, he will at least settle for the "partial devotion". He knows that half hearted devotion will keep us on any kingdom except the highest. By so doing, he gets to be even with us. We can hear him from a distance whispering, "I may be lower than you, but we're both denied of posterity. What's the difference?" (Sorry, let me go back to the topic)

Pray

Life is most of the time handled by faith; meaning "Act first and have the evidence later" kind of a deal. With this type of a situation 90% of the time, and without God’s help – erring will be more likely than not.

The scary part is that, applying the principle President Uchtdorf used on his airplane crash analogy, a small degree of error can stretch a damage so wide in this life and in the next one. Prayer can spare us of these nightmares.

Share it

One leader, who has inspired me a lot (so inspired that I even forgot his/her name) compared the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ into a flower - it's on its best when given away.

In fact, the more you share it, the more you will have of it. It's something we can afford to give away and won't be impoverished at the end of the day.

I also found out that Gospel sharing is a good motivation therapy. It kind of sharpens the saw.

But beware of the one tiny bitsy problem when you start sharing – it is habit forming. And you start not to care that people got something else to do besides reading this blog. So before you click me out, let me end by saying "just try it!"

Tags: Happiness

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