Fruit to Make One Happy
Gospel truths become sweet to us as we live them, bringing us happiness and joy.
Introduction
I have come to expect something when I am on the Lord’s errand. Why? Because it happens every time I travel. I meet remarkable, extraordinary people, Latter-day Saints and friends. I am always impressed with children I meet. Primary children! Everywhere, most recently in Australia, New Caledonia, Samoa, Colombia, and Peru. Sometimes you even draw our pictures, and you always improve how I look!
When we speak in conference, we speak to everyone, but some of my message today will be more directly to you, children of Primary age. You know who you are—some watching from home and others in a Church building. As this is the last conference session, you may be tired or restless. I remember, when I was your age, my mother saying, many times, “Gary, pay attention and listen. Just one more talk.”
I know you have a purpose. “Your Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, know you and love you.” Even though you are young, “you are an important part of Their work.” You are some of the most valued and faithful members of the whole Church. You can help to make your homes, your communities, and even the world better. You are our future. I feel so happy when I attend Primary and listen to your talks, your answers to gospel questions, and to hear you sing. “Heavenly Father has given you talents and spiritual gifts. He wants you to use these gifts and talents to be happy and bless others.”
Fruit to Make One Happy
When I was young like you, I loved fruit—and our family tradition of buying fresh fruit from farm stands during harvest. One stand was known for its delicious peaches. They were so sweet and juicy. Somehow, apples, cherries, and apricots bought from the farmer where they were grown seemed sweeter. Here I am with my dad next to a fruit display. Even today I love seeing and tasting delicious and unique fruits from your countries.
Now that we are all hungry, let us read a Book of Mormon story. Do you remember the prophet Lehi’s vision? He was drawn to a magnificent tree and its fruit. Lehi reflected, “I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.” He exclaimed that “it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted.” It filled his “soul with exceedingly great joy.”
The tree stands for the love of God, including the greatest manifestations of that love: the birth, life, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The fruit symbolizes blessings received through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, including ordinances, covenants, and truths of the restored gospel and ultimately eternal life.
Think for a moment about your favorite fruits. Are they pineapples, bananas, and grapes? Or mangoes, strawberries, and coconuts? We can hold the fruit, feel it, and look at it. We might smell it and guess how sweet it is. But once we have tasted it, we know how much we like it. Gospel truths are the same. We learn them at home, Primary, and through the scriptures. They become sweet to us as we live them, bringing us happiness and joy. Let me share three fruits of the gospel that I love.
Children of a Loving Heavenly Father
First, we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. Latter-day Saints know that we “once lived with Heavenly Father, who knows everything and loves everyone.” We are His children. Heavenly Father knows us personally. This is your most important identity. “He wants you to be like Him! He gave you a body, abilities, and spiritual gifts. He wants you and all of His children to discover and develop these gifts. He gave us a plan to help us be happy and bless others.” Having this knowledge makes us stronger. This knowledge also makes us kinder to others, knowing that everyone around us is our brother or sister.
I am so grateful that you share this fruit with others when you sing our beloved song found in the Children’s Songbook “I Am a Child of God.” Recently, I conducted a devotional with members in South America. Many were suffering because of a severe earthquake they had experienced. As I invited Primary children to stand and all to sing “I Am a Child of God,” out of the congregation, an incredibly young Primary boy got away from his parents and ran right up to the stand next to me. As I swooped him up, he sang every word of the Primary song in his sweet, loud, young voice. This testimony was so important and powerful, inviting the Spirit to comfort and testify to all that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father, even in the most difficult of times.
The Apostle Paul in the New Testament taught, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
The Great Plan of Happiness Through Jesus Christ
Second, the great plan of happiness through Jesus Christ. When I lived in Japan, I became friends with a Buddhist temple priest. He was a happy man. But when his wife died, leaving him alone, he became incredibly sad, even depressed. One night a friend and I visited him at his temple to minister to him. At first, he was reluctant to talk, so grief-stricken and inconsolable. When I asked him if he knew where his wife was, he at once lifted his head, startled at the question. “What do you mean?”
We shared with him that the spirits of all men and women, when they pass away, “are taken home to that God who gave them life” and that in God’s loving plan for His children, the spirit of this man’s beloved wife, an honorable woman, was received into a place called the spirit world, where she could enter a state of rest, happiness, and peace. His countenance changed in that moment. It was as if we watched him partake of the fruit of the tree of life and his soul was filled “with exceedingly great joy.” We witnessed a miraculous transformation: peace for despair, joy for sadness, hope for ashes.
The Book of Mormon calls this “the great plan of happiness.” Central to this plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
This is why Jesus Christ is the strength of youth. “He has done everything necessary for you”—for us—“to have joy in this life and forever.” Even when we make mistakes and feel discouraged or wonder if we will ever be good enough, “there is good news—wonderful, hopeful news! Because God loves [us], He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself [our] sins so [we] can repent, be forgiven, and keep progressing.”
I find no greater testimony that captures the great plan of happiness than when Primary children worldwide sing, “Gethsemane! Jesus loves me,” from a new hymn that we love.
The Gift of the Holy Ghost
Finally, a most delicious fruit for Latter-day Saints is the gift of the Holy Ghost, His constant companionship. When you turn eight years old, following your baptism, you receive this gift by the laying on of hands. Hundreds of thousands of recent converts have also been confirmed and received the Holy Ghost.
We know through revelation the Holy Ghost “is a personage of Spirit” and a member of the Godhead. His very important roles include to warn, to comfort, and to testify. A Primary song you often sing, “I Know My Father Lives,” teaches this: “I know my Father lives and loves me too. The Spirit whispers this to me and tells me it is true, and tells me it is true.”
Conclusion
To my young friends, you have been exceptionally good listeners as I illustrated three delicious fruits of the gospel: we are children of a loving Heavenly Father, the great plan of happiness through Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I close by extending an invitation. When Lehi partook of the fruit in his dream, he said, “It filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also.” He invited his family to eat the delicious fruit with him. Similarly, consider how your family, friends, and loved ones will be blessed to partake of the fruit that blesses you.
I invite you to do something that is as simple as gospel fruit is delicious: love, share, and invite. Do this with words and actions. As you do so, I promise that you will not only feel joy and happiness that comes as you partake of fruit of the gospel but even greater joy as loved ones around you partake as well.
I close with my testimony of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost and of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.