Doing Good - Feeling Good

Earlier this morning, I felt grungy from working late last night, but then I took a shower, gave myself a haircut, and started a load of laundry. Now I feel pretty good. My current mood in a combination of the sense of accomplishment you get when you're being productive and the feeling you get when you're clean, dry, and wearing comfortable clothes. And I have a cat on my lap. That helps, too.

All in all, I'm feeling a lot better now than I did yesterday, and it can all be attributed to doing good things. President Uchtdorf once said, "at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things." Doing good things makes people happy. I think that's why God "commands" us to do it. He wants us to be happy, and He'd like us to help make other people happy. By doing good, we can accomplish both.

Yesterday, I was upset because the test of life is hard, and it is. But there are some ways we can make life easier for ourselves and for everyone else - by keeping the commandments and basically being good people. Sometimes I forget that God gives us commandments, not just to test our obedience and will-power, but also to guide us on the path of true happiness. Everything God does, He does out of love and a desire for our happiness.

From our mortal perspective, it's hard to understand some things. We see lots of suffering and difficulty, and we sometimes wonder what the point of it all is, or if there even is a point at all. But there is a point. Earth is both a schoolhouse and a gymnasium. We're meant to leave our lives here stronger and wiser than we were when we came. There's a purpose to that, but it's a bit controversial. Perhaps I should save that for another time. Or you could read Barbara's comment to my last blog post.

I'm grateful for my wise, loving Heavenly Father and the knowledge that he has a plan for me (and hopefully a good, long chain of back-up plans for when I mess the first several plans up by accident). I'm grateful for His guidance, though I don't always perceive it and follow it. And most of all right now, I'm grateful for that good feeling I get when I do good and do well. It makes me happy. I'm glad I'm happy right now.