“Happiness, Deceit, and Small Things”, BYU Devotional, Brian K. Ashton, Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, December 5, 2017

One early, very cold Sunday morning in Minneapolis, while I was driving to a church meeting, I thought, “I should be really miserable right now. Nothing seems to be going the way I want. But I’m not miserable. I feel unbelievably happy!”

There were actually a lot of moments of joy and happiness for me while Melinda was on her mission. I missed her, but I also remember that time as one of general happiness. My life wasn’t perfect—and it still isn’t—but for the most part I was happy.

Now how could I be happy if I was going through what, for me, was a very difficult trial?

The answer is found in Galatians 5:22–23. It reads: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long­suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

This scripture teaches at least two great truths: One, when we feel the Spirit in our lives, which can refer to the Holy Ghost or the Light of Christ,1 we feel love, joy, and peace. It is those feelings that make us truly happy. And two, the Spirit is the source, or the fount, from which these blessings or fruits come.

Consequently, because I was doing the things that brought the Spirit into my life, even amid what, for me, was a lot of turmoil and frustration, I felt God’s love. I felt joy and peace. I could suffer long and still be happy.

So lesson number one is that if we want to feel love, joy, and peace, we must do the things that bring the Spirit into our lives. Another way to say this is that having love, joy, and peace in our lives, our families, and our marriages does not come from having a big house, nice cars, the latest clothing, career success, or any of the other things that the world says bring happiness. In fact, because feelings of love, joy, and peace come from the Spirit, feeling them doesn’t have to be connected to our temporal circumstances at all. Thus, even in our most difficult circumstances it is possible to be happy.2 This is one reason why, only hours before His Atonement and all the difficulties that would come with that experience for the Savior and His disciples, Jesus could tell His apostles to “be of good cheer.”3

Please understand that I am not saying that we will always be happy or that our temporal circumstances never affect our happiness. In fact, if we do not taste the bitter, we cannot know the sweet.4 We need to struggle at times. Furthermore, there are some physical and emotional conditions, such as clinical depression, that can cause us great suffering and make it very difficult for us to feel the Spirit. But if we are striving to have the Spirit in our lives and are trusting God, we can, in general, be happy.

1. “The Spirit” as used in Galatians 5:22–23 clearly refers to the Holy Ghost. But it also refers to the Light of Christ. Since all of God’s children have the Light of Christ, all people are able to feel the fruits of the Spirit when they do good things, even if the Holy Ghost is not present. We feel these fruits when the Light of Christ, which is within us, cleaves unto truth and light (see D&C 88:40). In other words, the Light of Christ is attracted to the things that are inspired by God (see Moroni 7:13). When this attraction occurs, one feels the “swelling motions” that Alma described in Alma 32, which are so delicious (Alma 32:28). Thus anyone who does good, whether he or she enjoys the gift of the Holy Ghost or not, can feel the fruits of the Spirit. However, without the gift of the Holy Ghost, one cannot enjoy these feelings constantly. In addition, they may not be felt as intensely.

2. See Mosiah 24:15.

3. John 16:33.

4. See D&C 29:39; see also Moses 6:55.