Happiness

I have been thinking about this for a while now, why do people think that they deserve to be happy, like it is something you should just be. I have a hard time understanding this. I always figured being happy was something you WORKED at, not something you are entitled to. But, it seems there are allot of people out there that believe differently so I was wondering what you all think.

I will tell you why I feel the way I do. First off I believe it is a commandment to be happy, not a blessing. Yes, you can be blessed with happy things in your life. But I don't think our Father in Heaven is just going to make us happy, in fact, I will say it again, I think he has commanded us to be happy. Here's why.

Proverbs 29:18 ... but, he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

James 5:11 (he is speaking about having patience, suffering through our trials, not holding grudges.. "Behold we count them happy which endure." Then he talks about Job and the tender mercy of the Lord. 

Mosiah 2:41  "Happy is the state of them that keep the commandments."

But, none can compare to the story we learn from Ammon who after being separated from Alma and his other brethren for a time, comes to find him again, while leading the people of Anti-Nephi Lehi. And we learn that he was so full of joy that he falls to earth from the exhaustion that comes upon him (we call these book of mormon moments at my house)

Alma 27:18 "Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this joy which NONE receiveth SAVE IT BE the truly penitent and humble SEEKER OF HAPPINESS."

We do not learn that God granted him happiness, or that he had found happiness and joy from finding himself. NO it is only after he went and served. Gave up part of his life, became a disciple of Christ and then, while freeing other people from destruction,  comes to find his brother along the way. He not only has FOUND happiness but Joy!! Ammon is one of my favorites he teaches us so much. He goes out and becomes what the Lord wants him to be. And is happy to do it!! Then he is blessed with the joy that comes from the Lord. 

I think we can get so tied up in being our human selves that we forget our lives belong to our Heavenly Father. Our choices belong to us. We have been given things in our lives that are hard, I will not try to down play any persons suffering. But, I do believe that we will be judged based on how we react to the things that happen to us in this life. I am a girl who when I feel frustrated I let my Father in Heaven know it. Winston Churchill and I have this in common he said " I am prepared for the day I will meet my maker, whether my maker is prepared for the grand ordeal of meeting me I do not know." I am not sure why we are sent to suffer such things as, miscarriages  in healthy women and drug addicted babied in others. Or children dying in such awful ways. There are things in this life I will never understand. And even more things I Never want to. But, I do know this. My Heavenly Father expects me to find happiness in the peace that comes from the all encompassing love of my Savior Jesus Christ. It is only he who can help me find True and lasting Joy. The Joy that come only AFTER I have figured out how to happy through all the misery that being a human being in this world brings. 

I will end on this note, I believe the fathers of our Nation put it best when they wrote  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "

Think about it and tell me what you think. Is happiness a blessing or a commandment?