Yesterday I spent some time outside enjoying a gorgeous, sunny day. I noticed that the grass in our backyard is green with a very healthy-looking patch of clover growing right in front of the patio. The bamboo across the back fence, which was brown all last summer, is green and bushy. Purple and yellow wildflowers are scattered across the yard. I watched several small yellow butterflies fluttering around. I could hear birds singing nearby. It was ideal: peaceful, tranquil, beautiful. But when I turned my head to the left, I saw, against the blue sky, the barely moving, gray, lifeless, bare limbs of trees in the neighbor’s yard, which reminded me it is still winter. As I looked back and forth a couple of times from my yard in spring to their trees in winter, I thought what a great analogy it is for what is happening in the world today.
The world is in winter. Everything is growing old, wearing out, decaying, or just failing to produce. There is so much ugliness, despair and seemingly little hope of improvement. The economy is bad. People are losing their jobs, their homes. Families are breaking up. We have the possibility of our entire economic system collapsing, of the money being worth nothing. Violence and discontent are being bred in the streets of most major cities by young people angry about life being difficult for some while others have too much ease because of their money. We watch the results of economic crises in the rest of the world as they affect us here.
More and more states are redefining marriage. Religious freedom is being threatened by the federal government as laws are considered that would force people to do that which goes against their moral values. The government has already put many programs into place that are systematically robbing us of our rights – telling us what our children can and cannot eat at school, what they can wear (going way beyond a dress code for decency). They want to tell us what we have to buy and what we can’t have because they think it’s not good for us. They threaten to take away our right to protect ourselves at the same time that they refuse to do so themselves, ignoring the violence coming across our mostly unprotected southern border. Freedom of speech is under constant attack at schools, in the media, in the military, at places of employment.
More and more states are redefining marriage. Religious freedom is being threatened by the federal government as laws are considered that would force people to do that which goes against their moral values. The government has already put many programs into place that are systematically robbing us of our rights – telling us what our children can and cannot eat at school, what they can wear (going way beyond a dress code for decency). They want to tell us what we have to buy and what we can’t have because they think it’s not good for us. They threaten to take away our right to protect ourselves at the same time that they refuse to do so themselves, ignoring the violence coming across our mostly unprotected southern border. Freedom of speech is under constant attack at schools, in the media, in the military, at places of employment.
We have terrorists and even nations who hate us and threaten attack. Many Muslim countries are overthrowing dictators and are ripe to be taken over by Islamic extremists –
What passes for entertainment now is often the worst of what our society has to offer – violence, hatred, abuse, torture, murder, promiscuity, lust, greed, adultery, gluttony, blasphemy, ridiculing everything that is good and glamorizing all the sins that have brought so many nations, kingdoms and empires in the history of this world to destruction. Yes, it is winter in this world, and not much good fruit is forthcoming.
However, as winter rages on all around the world, there are some spots, like my backyard, where spring is bringing forth fruit. There are still people who love God, whatever they call Him, who are trying to do what would please Him. They are trying to do His will, to serve Him by serving others. They are looking for a way out as calamity approaches, but they are not leaning to their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5) or trusting in the arm of flesh (2 Nephi 4:34, Psalm 44:3). They seek guidance from the Holy Ghost. They try to live God’s law so they can count on God’s protection. They obey His commandments so they can receive His blessings. They notice the miracles that happen around them, and they thank the Lord for His Mercy. They don’t lose hope because they know that those who are with us are more than those who are against us. (2 Kings 6:16)
While Satan is strong in the world right now and his plan is moving forward with increasing speed, we know he will ultimately lose. I am so grateful for this very real reminder I got yesterday that, even as Satan rages in the earth, I can find peace, hope and happiness in my own little Garden of Eden if I live so as to enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost and the protection of the Lord’s omnipotent power. At the same time, I am reminded that I am not completely protected from harm as I continue in my mortal probation. There is one tree in the far left corner of my yard that looks like those dead trees of winter in my neighbor’s yard, and there is a dead vine under the bush just outside my bedroom window. But the bush is green and healthy, and the dead tree rises from a garden plot that has green plants growing in it, even all around the bottom of that barren tree.
So as the evil in the world tries to infiltrate my righteous realm, I am fully dedicated to putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) and living in faith. Instead of giving in to fear, despair and hopelessness, I will cling to peace, tranquility and security that come through living with an eye single to the glory of God.
And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. (D&C 88:67)
If we abide in the Lord and He abides in us, we will be fruitful, bringing forth goodness, righteousness and truth, by obeying the Lord’s word, living by faith, being cleansed of sin and walking worthy of the Lord. When we are fruitful, then we will be saved by the Lord, be worthy of the kingdom of heaven, enter into the Lord’s rest and have joy. That truly is being Happy Like Jesus.