Your Happily Ever After

In today's world we are surrounded by a barrage of countless messages about who we should be, how we should dress, how we should act, what we should look like, and how all of that together makes us successful or beautiful or popular or all three together. Very superficial things are designed to give us what the world defines as "happiness." Everyone is searching for their "happily ever after" in the next popular diet, the next clothing line, or the next reality TV show.

The adversary is very good at using the world to deceive us and redefine happiness. He would have us think that a certain amount of money, a kind of dress, or lifestyle will keep us from trials and adversity when putting material things first in our lives actually creates genuine unhappiness.1

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke to the young women last March about seeking their own "happily ever after." He said, "We all search for happiness, and we all try to find our own 'happily ever after.' The truth is, God knows how to get there! And He has created a [plan] for you; He knows the way. . . . 'Happily ever after' is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father's [plan]." He didn't say that we should follow Cosmopolitan or the celebrity lifestyles on E!. Indeed, such lifestyles are contrary to the Lord's will and plan for us.

Read President Uchtdorf's talk, "Your Happily Ever After." He talks about how we can experience great happiness and fulfillment in life. He teaches:

Isn't it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of "once upon a time," complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers you the greatest gift of all--eternal life--and the opportunity and infinite blessing or you own "happily ever after."

If you feel that you are continually searching yet never finding, constantly chasing but never catching, or striving yet never feeling accomplished, come, cease to spend your money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Come unto Him who offers true happiness, a well of living water. Let your hearts rejoice. (See 2 Nephi 9:51-52; D&C 63:23.)

This is real. This is true.

Jeremy

1 Do not misunderstand me when I speak about the latest fads or fashions. Having money and dressing well is not inherently wrong or evil. The problem lies with the priority worldly possessions hold in our lives and the energy with which we seek them. The prophet Jacob taught, "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good" (Jacob 2:18-19, italics added). It is the love of money and "things" that is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). The adversary through the media would have us perpetually seeking to find satisfaction and happiness in worldly things when the only way to find true, lasting happiness is in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in eternal family relationships, and in obedience to His commandments.