Never a Happier Time Than … 2020?
Despite all the hardship this year, we can still find happiness and peace.
And just when I thought 2020 couldn’t get any crazier, it did.
I began the year with an optimistic view. With my husband and me being only a few months away from celebrating our one-year anniversary, we had big plans for the year. Internships, a cruise, sibling graduation trips, starting our senior year of college, and more. It seemed like 2020 would be a year for the record books.
And then the chaos began.
With devastating fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, the exponential spread of coronavirus (and the loss of toilet paper!), the downturn of the economy, and the outbreak of civil unrest, the world seems to be in a dramatic frenzy. We have watched as each of our plans for the year slowly changed, got rescheduled, or canceled altogether.
Like many others, I have often found myself feeling overcome with anxiety over the sudden lack of control of my plans and heartache for the pain in the world.
I’ve caught myself scrolling social media, almost as if to numb the hurt and to see the latest updates on catastrophes at the same time. As President Russell M. Nelson has said, “We live in a world that is complex and increasingly contentious. The constant availability of social media and a 24-hour news cycle bombard us with relentless messages.”1
Bombarded with messages is exactly how I’ve felt!
Finally, in a moment of frustration and anxiety, I turned off my phone and knew that I needed to turn somewhere else to find peace.
With scriptures in hand, I opened to a random page and skimmed for anything uplifting. My eyes landed on Alma 50:21–23. It reads:
“And we see that these promises have been verified to the people of Nephi; for it has been their quarrelings and their contentions, yea, their murderings, and their plunderings, their idolatry, their whoredoms, and their abominations, which were among themselves, which brought upon them their wars and their destructions.”
Hmm, sounded like 2020 all right! Then I continued:
“And those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times, whilst thousands of their wicked brethren have been consigned to bondage, or to perish by the sword, or to dwindle in unbelief, and mingle with the Lamanites.
“But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi” (emphasis added).
In an instant, I knew that Heavenly Father was sending this message to me. Despite the hardships that the world is facing right now and despite the challenges I may be facing personally, I can still find happiness as I keep the commandments of God. Although this year may feel like one of the hardest years ever, I’ve still been able to find a way to make it one of the happiest times of my life.
I am grateful for a living prophet who has counseled us repeatedly to “increase [our] spiritual capacity to receive revelation.”2 With this gift of personal revelation, each one of us can find our own answers on what role we have to play in the healing of the world. We can also know with clarity how to find happiness in our own lives and how to share it with those around us.
Like President Nelson, I too am “optimistic about the future.”3 Although the commotion of the world may continue, I have found peace in knowing that my future is bright. Despite these times of uncertainty, I can be certain that as I follow the Savior, I can create one of the happiest times of my life.