The Timeliness of Happiness – Sunday, June 23, 1940
In looking out upon the confused and troubled scene, we are impressed with this overruling fact: Every man in his own way is seeking happiness. That is the ceaseless quest of life in all generations and in all ages: “Men are that they might have joy”. (2nd Nephi 2:25) — a deep and abiding joy.
It is proper that life should be a quest for happiness, but our difficulties begin in the distorted and perverted ideas that some men have concerning it. Some men wrongly suppose that domination of others will bring them happiness. Some men set out upon the quest for happiness in the realm of material things, only to find that their accumulations in and of themselves, are not a source of joy. Some men mistake happiness for a passing pleasure and pay a great price for it, and have nothing to show for the price paid except heartache and regret. Now, since we have conceded that the quest for happiness is properly the business of life, perhaps there should be suggested some of the elements that characterize it. First of all, genuine happiness is never composed of things that please one man and cause another misery. It must be made up of those things of which all men may be partakers. Another element of absolute happiness is timelessness. It must endure beyond the present moment. It must not be a thing of fleeting nature. It must not be a thing that gives a thrill today and a headache and a heavy heart tomorrow, and it must be of such a nature that it can be increased by the sharing of it. And since we are all on a quest for happiness, each in his own way, it would be well to remember that scriptural injunction which says: “He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8). Of such is the foundation of all genuine and lasting happiness.
June 23, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,566