Share the Joy

In Elder Bednar's talk, Come and See, he spoke about a few of the reasons why we do missionary work. To illustrate one of the reasons, he shared an experience he and his wife had had watching two of their boys. When the younger brother received a slight injury, the older brother gave the small wound an excessive amount of treatment. Having been thus healed, the younger brother wanted to heal others, so he went around putting medicated ointment and bandages on everyone. Commenting on the younger boy's action, Elder Bednar said:

Please note that he immediately and intuitively wanted to give to his friends the very thing that had helped him when he was hurt. That little boy did not have to be urged, challenged, prompted, or goaded to act. His desire to share was the natural consequence of a most helpful and beneficial personal experience.

When we find something that helps us or makes our lives better in any way, there is a natural desire to share it. Out of genuine love for others, we want them to also have the things that bring happiness into our lives. This is part of the reason we do missionary work, and it's part of the reason I blog about games and fantasy. I enjoy those things and they inspire me. My hope is that they'll give you some happiness and inspiration, too.

Then again, I know that games and fantasy aren't for everyone. The children who weren't injured probably didn't get as much benefit from the ointment and bandages as the injured boy had. On them, the bandages were just big stickers. Fun, perhaps, but not really helpful. I knew that not everyone would be inspired by thinking of life as an open-world, massively multiplayer, role-playing, sandbox, choose-your-own-adventure game, but I was, and I hoped that some of you would be as well.

Yet, even though bandages are more useful at some times than at others, and fantasy does more good for some people than for others, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. We all need to hear messages that increase our faith and strengthen our testimonies. We all need the strength that comes from the Gospel and the peace that comes from living it. We all need occasional reminders to repent and encouragement to press forward, despite our troubles, trials, and weaknesses. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope and salvation. It is of benefit to everyone who hears of it and applies its message. That's why we want everyone to hear of it, and that's why we share the gospel.

Of course, there's more to the story than that. You should check out Elder Bednar's talk for a more complete explanation. I mostly just wanted to make the point that I share my love of games and fantasy for one of the same reasons as I share the gospel. They make me happy. They bring fun and/or joy into my life. You may already have as much fun in your life as you would like to have, or maybe you get your fun in other ways, but games and fantasy are where I get a good deal of my fun and even some inspiration, so as often as I find something inspiring in some game or fantasy story, I plan on sharing it here. I'm not trying to push my hobbies on you any more than I'm trying to push my religion on you. I'm just trying to share the joy.