M. Catherine Thomas, a BYU Professor and accomplished author wrote in her book, ‘Light in the Wilderness’:
Seeing into the nature of all things, we discover the possibility of a great happiness veiled behind the most unthinkable turn of events. Brigham Young offers some mind-altering ideas:
“I am happy; I am full of joy, comfort, and peace; all within me is light, for I desire nothing but to do the will of my Father in heaven. I delight not in unrighteousness, but in righteousness and truth. I seek to promote the good and happiness of myself and those with whom I am associated. We have the privilege of securing to ourselves that eternal bliss that can never fade away….
You need never expect to see sorrow, unless your own conduct, conversation, and acts bring it to your hearts. Do you know that sorrow to you can exist only in your own hearts? Though men and women are in the mountains perishing— though they be in overwhelming depths of snow freezing to death, or be on a desolate island starving to death for want of food— though they perish by the sword or in any other way, yet, if the heart is cheerful, all is light and glory within; there is no sorrow within them. You never saw a true Saint in the world that had sorrow, neither can you find one. If persons are destitute of the fountain of living water, or the principles of eternal life, then they are sorrowful. If the words of life dwell in us, and we have the hope of eternal life and glory, and let that spark within us kindle to a flame, to the consuming of the least and last remains of selfishness, we never can walk in darkness and are strangers to doubt and fear.” (JD 6:40-41)
Perhaps to make his point, Brigham overstated to a degree in saying no true saint could have sorrow. The Savior Himself had sorrows, and many true saints are called into situations where they feel pain, dismay, sorrow, confusion, and grief; and they are called to comfort each other as Love bids them do and as part of their baptismal covenant (see Mosiah 18:8-9). But still he has made a profound observation that can change our life. Brigham teaches at least five important ideas here:
- He is able to enjoy a fulness of happiness because he has given up his own will—he has been swallowed up in the Lord’s will, and that has enabled him to find acceptance, even joy, in what the Lord puts in his path. We might understand from his words that it is often insistence on our own will that blocks our perception of joy.
- The source of his joy rests in the intent of his heart to promote his own good and happiness, as well as that of his associates.
- Sorrow can exist only in one’s heart, suggesting that sorrow is a function of thinking, not circumstances. It is how we interpret what is happening to us that either liberates us or imprisons us. If we interpret what is happening as something that should not be happening, and we can’t change it, then we will suffer. If we can accept that-which-cannot-be-changed as a reflection of what God would have unfold, then we can have peace. We might assume, ” Of course, God is too benevolent to want or allow suffering.” But have we misunderstood benevolence?
- Possessing the fountain of living water, the principles, and the words of eternal life makes a cheerful heart possible even in the midst of the unthinkable, because it is in the nature of things that underneath it all, behind it all there is a secret happiness. This is not just a clinging to positive ideas, but the transcending effect of the residence of the inner Spirit of happiness with its felt experience.
- That is, the words of life kindle the flame of eternal life inside us and they consume the last of our selfishness (the greatest source of our suffering), allowing us to walk in the light—-clean, trusting—-and to have no doubt of fear.
From ‘Light in the Wilderness’ by M. Catherine Thomas, Digital Legend 2010, p.22-25
