Onward and Upward

Monday night, I had a friend come over to visit with me. He was worried about me, hadn't seen me for some time, and figured the only way he would be able to catch me was not to drop by, but to schedule himself into my Monday night.

Oh, and to bring me a bar of Lindt chocolate to quite literally sweeten the deal. Remember that trick.

Last year, I was much more of a presence in my ward than I've been this year. My friend was a little worried because he hasn't seen me out and about as much. I remember worrying that same worry about people last year. I told him there was no need to be worried, that I was simply spending my time with other friends, with family, and with getting excited about the future.

Yet he then expressed a worry that I seemed less happy than he was used to seeing me. I explained to him why he might think that (I see him most when we're both acting in administrative capacities. I challenge you to be your happiest when you're administrating.), and then also shared with him why the opposite - that I'm happier than I've ever been - was true. 

The way I've been taught and the way I see it, if you're not happier now than you were a year ago, you're living wrong. Though I was warned as a child that life never gets easier, I was also promised that life only gets better. And don't forget the idea that "men are that they might have joy." Our Heavenly Father wants to bless us, wants us to be happy. That's why he created us, after all. If we're living the way he's asked us to, there's no reason we won't continue to increase in joy. 

In fact, the things he asks us to do, the commandments themselves, make us happier. Principally I was told long ago that, though things get harder, life does become more and more worth those hard things. And I believe they're right. 

I can look back and describe to you exactly how each year of my life has been better than the last. And each year, I wonder how in the world the next one will top it, if life really can get any better. But it does. And then I marvel again and again at the mercy and love of my Heavenly Father, in allowing me the life he has, and the abundance of beautiful blessings he's given to me. I've never been happier. I've been given so many people to love, and to be loved by. I've been given countless opportunities to grow, love, learn, and laugh. (In fact, I've laughed out loud over text messages I've been sent this semester probably more than the rest of my life put together.)

And perhaps most importantly, I'm learning to remember that rather than fearing the loss of what I have presently, I should be praising my Heavenly Father and thanking him for what I have now, fully expecting that what is in store for me is greater than I could ever plan for myself.