“Men [and women] are that they might have joy.”[1]
To me, there is no more clear and inspiring statement of the purpose of our immortal existence than this scripture found in the Book of Mormon.
During the pandemic, there were times when I felt that I had lost my joy and didn’t know how to recapture it. Limitations on travel meant that my wife, Tami, and I could not visit our three children, one of our usual sources of joy.
This all came to a head during a particularly intense period of the pandemic, during which Tami and I were “locked down” in our home and its immediate surroundings. It was a tough time. I found myself asking, “Where is the joy in my life? This bothered me, because I knew that the purpose of our life is to have joy.
Then, something happened. Our whole neighborhood began cooking and serving three meals a day to the 40 or so security guards and workers who had to stay in our compound continuously during the lockdown.
“Joy comes from and because of Him. … For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!”
Russell M. Nelson
Along with many neighbors, Tami and I took our turn in the rotation to cook for these workers and deliver food for them to enjoy in the midst of their challenging situation. We began looking forward to seeing the smiles and happiness this brought to the many workers. Day by day, the joy came back into our lives. We also noticed that these acts of kind service with our new friends and neighbors gradually invoked a joyfully positive feeling of community and caring in the hearts of all those in our neighborhood.
As Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminded us, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God,” and God will repay your kindness generously. The joy you give to others will return to you in “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.”[2] It seems that letting the joy of the love of God flow from us out to others brings us joy.
A wise church leader once told me, “When you’re feeling down, count your blessings.” One of the blessings I count is the second chance offered me each day through the Savior’s atonement. We can feel the joy of the Savior’s love flowing to us as we take Him up on His offer of becoming “at one” with God through humbling ourselves and repenting.
I have often taken my Savior up on His offer of atonement and have “…felt to sing the song of redeeming love.”[3] I have personally known the resulting happy feeling about which Alma the Younger exclaimed, “…there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”[4]
Lasting joy is found in choosing to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joy comes to us when we let His love flow out of our hearts and share it with others through serving them, as we envision what He would do. And joy comes to us as we let the love of our Savior flow into our souls by gratefully taking him up on His offer of redemption.
As our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, taught us, “Joy comes from and because of Him. … For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!”[5]
I have a personal testimony that as we participate in the Savior’s love through service to others and by accepting the redemption of His atonement, great things will happen, even miracles – miracles of increased knowledge, miracles of deepened faith, miracles of love, and miracles of eternal joy.
[1] 2 Nephi 2:25
[2] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “A Higher Joy”, Liahona, May 2024, 69
[3] Alma 5:26
[4] Alma 36: 21
[5] Russell M. Nelson, “Joy and Spiritual Survival,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 82–83