32. Happiness, the Object of Our Existence

A bishopric message written on Monday, January 1, 2001, for publication in the January 2001 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.

“Happiness,” taught the Prophet Joseph Smith, “is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it” (History of the Church, 5:134).

All of us want to be happy. It is the way we were programmed. It is our nature and our inheritance if we seek it in the right ways and in the proper places. The path that leads to happiness, the Prophet continued, “is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. . . . In obedience there is joy and peace unspotted” (History of the Church, 5:134).

At the dawn of this new year, I have no greater desire for you whom I love than the simple wish that you find true happiness, the peace and the joy that come as precious gifts from a loving Father to all the obedient. That desire is my invocation upon the year and my blessing upon you and your families, as I bear my witness that God lives, that He is our Father, that Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son, our Savior and Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was and is His prophet, through whom the knowledge and power and authority were restored that allow us to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him.

May that be our happy lot during this new year and always.