Continuing from ‘Seeking the Good’, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum or the Twelve wrote:
“We can seek to strengthen our families and can foster peace and happiness in our homes, making them a safe haven from the cares and woes about us. By example, parents can teach children to be kind, considerate, respectful, and supportive of one another and to avoid strife and contention. Occasionally, family members treat each other with less courtesy and kindness than they do acquaintances or even strangers. Family members do have differences that can cause friction, but they should reserve their most tender affection for those who are closest to them: their spouse, parents, brothers and sisters. The true greatness of a person in my view, is evident in the way he or she treats those toward whom courtesy and kindness may not be required.
We can seek to be good neighbors. In most cases, those who are good neighbors will have good neighbors. Being a good neighbor means doing more than offering a thoughtful gesture from time to time on a holiday or crisis. It means striving continuously to build and maintain genuine friendship. We react quickly in an emergency. For example, when our neighbor’s car caught on fire, everyone who saw the flames immediately rushed out to help. Do we respond as well when the need is less urgent but perhaps more important?
We can seek to provide selfless service because of the love we have for our fellow men, The Savior placed such love second only to love for God when he said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, scroll down)
Regarding these two commandments, we read in the book of First John: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” (1 John 4:20-21.)
. . . . Serving others should become a natural part of the life of every follower of the Savior. When we subordinate personal interests out of love and give of ourselves with no thought of receiving in return, we are moving toward becoming true disciples. We have been commanded to care for the poor among us. The Lord said: “Remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.” (Doctrine and Covenants 52:40.)
We should seek to become self-reliant, as far as possible, rather than depend on someone else to provide for us. Some people seem to have the notion that we have a right to everything in life without making any effort to produce it ourselves. Many believe the government and others should take care of us: . . .
We should seek to be happy and cheerful and not allow Satan to overcome us with discouragement, despair or depression. President Benson said, “Of all people we. . .should be the most optimistic and least pessimistic.”3 Where sin is the cause of unhappiness, we need to repent and return to a righteousness life because “wickedness never was happiness.”(Alma 41:10)
I believe happiness comes from a clear conscience and from being without guile or deception. It means avoiding jealously and envy. It means cultivating peace in our homes and enjoying the peace in our hearts that righteousness brings. It comes from knowledge and assurance given by the Spirit, that the life we are pursuing is in accord with God’s will and is acceptable to him. The Prophet Joseph’s oft-quoted statement remains in force: “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”(4-HC 5:134-35.) We need not feel depressed or discouraged about conditions in the world, for the Lord will help us find the good that will lead us to happiness.
~ Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (deceased), Finding Peace in Our Lives (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995), 130-34
