Nothing escapes God’s attention, not even a bird falling to the ground.[i] He is ever mindful of us, His children so beloved by Him but so wandering. All we like sheep have gone astray, each to his or her own way.[ii] We live in a fallen world, so dangerous, yet so beautiful. The universe is traced in the veins of a leaf.[iii]
The prophet said that there must be opposition in all things.[iv] But to live after the manner of happiness[v], our suffering must be swallowed up in Joy.[vi] Marvin J Ashton said:
“We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can control our attitude. We must be more concerned with what we do with what happens to us than what happens to us. Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you.”[vii]
Joyce Meyer reaffirmed this when she said:
“A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.”[viii]
The Apostle Paul, who suffered so much for his testimony of Jesus Christ, still rejoiced in Him saying:
“And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”[ix]
When the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to the people of King Benjamin, they were filled with joy:
“the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come”[x]
True joy comes in being one with Jesus who saw the world so differently than we do. He said to His disciples so long ago:
“I have told them many things while I was with them so that they would be filled with my joy….O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in them.”[xi]
[i] Matthew 10:29-31
[ii] Isaiah 53:6
[iii] Walt Whitman “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/walt_whitman_106900
[iv] 2 Nephi 2:8-13
[v] 2 Nephi 5:27
[vi] Alma 31:38 “he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.”
[vii] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97466-we-can-t-always-control-our-circumstances-but-we-can-control#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWE%20CAN’T%20ALWAYS%20CONTROL%20OUR%20CIRCUMSTANCES%20BUT%20WE%20CAN,WHAT%20HAPPENS%20INSIDE%20OF%20YOU.%E2%80%9D
[viii] https://www.quotespedia.org/authors/j/joyce-meyer/a-positive-attitude-gives-you-power-over-your-circumstances-instead-of-your-circumstances-having-power-over-you-joyce-meyer/
[ix] Romans 5:3-5 NRSV
[x] Mosiah 4:3
[xi] John 17:13, 25-26