Sharing Joy
This morning I talked with my roommate about how sometimes when I'm really happy it's hard to focus because all I want to do is talk to everyone else and share my joy with them! I don't want to focus on reading anything or focusing on school work...I want to talk to people and smile and laugh and just talk and talk about how blessed life can be, because that's what my life is and always has been. Now, mind you, there have been times when I've been blinded from seeing those blessings due to my own internal conflicts, but that doesn't mean my life wasn't blessed at those times.
After I talked with her I was reading Alma 22. Can I just say that Alma and Amulek, Ammon, Aaron, and the other sons of Mosiah went through A LOT to share the gospel. They had such faith and strength and confidence in the Lord and thus were able to have a good deal of success. But something else I noticed: along with their faith, strength, and confidence, they also had a great deal of self-discipline. When Alma and Amulek were watching the people they had just converted burn at the hands of the wicked, they restrained themselves from saving them because it was not the Lord's will. When Ammon first came to King Lamoni, he had the discipline to not immediately talk about what he knew could bring the Lamanites so much joy; instead he offered his services and patiently waited for the opportune moment which would yield the greatest acceptance on the King's part. He was disciplined enough to wait for and accept the Lord's timing as Alma and Amulek were.
Aaron, taught me the same lesson about self-discipline, but in reference to the first paragraph I've written. In Alma 22:8, we read that Aaron's "heart began to rejoice, and he said: Behold, assuredly as thou livest, O king, there is a God." Prior to this King Lamoni's father had wanted to kill Alma for converting King Lamoni, and now he is inquiring about God and redemption from sin. What joy Aaron must have felt because of this change of heart! When I think about his happiness at this point, I imagine myself in his place and totally blowing the whole thing because I'd get much too excited and wouldn't be able to communicate with the Spirit. I'd be too distracted by the emotions running through me that I'd not be able to focus on the task at hand. Of course I do know how to discipline myself and come back down to earth quickly. I'm not ADD. I can focus.
Aaron's self-discipline here was most likely second hand and didn't need to be consciously put forth. For me, though, I realize that as a missionary, I need to have a new way of expressing that joy, different from the first paragraph on this post. That method will not work in bringing others to Christ. Granted, my joy and desire to share it is something I feel to be very much a part of who I am and how I function. I will not give up this manner of sharing joy, but rather adopt a new way of focusing that joy and channeling it to a more productive, efficient means.
Everyday is another fight to be happy, but everyday is also so different from the one before with different reasons Satan tells me I shouldn't be happy. Today I'm going to be happy because my life is blessed; I have the scriptures, I have my testimony, I have my family, I have my friends, I have my faith and I will share those with whomever I can.
After I talked with her I was reading Alma 22. Can I just say that Alma and Amulek, Ammon, Aaron, and the other sons of Mosiah went through A LOT to share the gospel. They had such faith and strength and confidence in the Lord and thus were able to have a good deal of success. But something else I noticed: along with their faith, strength, and confidence, they also had a great deal of self-discipline. When Alma and Amulek were watching the people they had just converted burn at the hands of the wicked, they restrained themselves from saving them because it was not the Lord's will. When Ammon first came to King Lamoni, he had the discipline to not immediately talk about what he knew could bring the Lamanites so much joy; instead he offered his services and patiently waited for the opportune moment which would yield the greatest acceptance on the King's part. He was disciplined enough to wait for and accept the Lord's timing as Alma and Amulek were.
Aaron, taught me the same lesson about self-discipline, but in reference to the first paragraph I've written. In Alma 22:8, we read that Aaron's "heart began to rejoice, and he said: Behold, assuredly as thou livest, O king, there is a God." Prior to this King Lamoni's father had wanted to kill Alma for converting King Lamoni, and now he is inquiring about God and redemption from sin. What joy Aaron must have felt because of this change of heart! When I think about his happiness at this point, I imagine myself in his place and totally blowing the whole thing because I'd get much too excited and wouldn't be able to communicate with the Spirit. I'd be too distracted by the emotions running through me that I'd not be able to focus on the task at hand. Of course I do know how to discipline myself and come back down to earth quickly. I'm not ADD. I can focus.
Aaron's self-discipline here was most likely second hand and didn't need to be consciously put forth. For me, though, I realize that as a missionary, I need to have a new way of expressing that joy, different from the first paragraph on this post. That method will not work in bringing others to Christ. Granted, my joy and desire to share it is something I feel to be very much a part of who I am and how I function. I will not give up this manner of sharing joy, but rather adopt a new way of focusing that joy and channeling it to a more productive, efficient means.
Everyday is another fight to be happy, but everyday is also so different from the one before with different reasons Satan tells me I shouldn't be happy. Today I'm going to be happy because my life is blessed; I have the scriptures, I have my testimony, I have my family, I have my friends, I have my faith and I will share those with whomever I can.
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