Joy in the Journey

There are many people who would fit under this definition. The pioneers to whom I am referring to in this post, are the pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; the first members who joined after hearing of The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They came from Europe, the East coast, and from the South, and began to settle new towns and build happy communities filled with peace and joy in their new faith. Then a persecution and bitterness could not be contained against them. They were driven from place to place by hatred. Mobs burned homes, killed men, women and children, and destroyed their beloved temple. Since the church had been restored in 1830, leaders felt they needed to move west in order to find peace from the mobs. In 1846, they began a great exodus westward to the Salt Lake Valley.

But this was not the end of their suffering or sacrafice. A perilous journey of thousands of miles lay before them across the wild and unknown frontier, and these were no frontiersmen! They were shop keepers, business men, farmers, and merchants, who now drove teams and pulled hand carts through hardships, famine, fatigue, and death. They walked until their feet were worn to nothing. Mothers laid their babies in cold shallow graves. Provisions were scarce so they were constantly plagued with starvation and illness. They endured frozen river crossings, blistered hands, and scorching sun. If there was a people who deserved to be unhappy, to be full of misery, sorrow, and bitterness; who deserved to give up the fight to endure to the end, it was these pioneers...and yet...they didn't!

So how did they do it?! How could they find even the smallest ray of happiness in their bleak and meager existence during those months exile and exodus? If these incredible people were here today to answer that question, they would say it was their faith in Jesus Christ and their determination to find joy in the journey.

The journals of these pioneers share the hardships and trials endured, but they also constantly acknowledge the miracles and blessings they were seeing. They had eyes to see more than the misery, they had eyes to see the love of God, despite the trials before them. It's amazing the instant happiness that fills our hearts when instead of looking at what we don't have, we count what we do have, the blessings, 'one by one.''

What I loved most though were their accounts of dancing! I love it for two reasons. The first, I have spent most of my life dancing, and it also has been a source of my happiness! Secondly because if I had been in their shoes, the last thing I'd probably want to do after struggling for miles upon miles, and after experiencing heartache, sickness, and fatigue, is dance! And yet, they would gather together, and they would dance!! Their hearts would be made light and their spirits uplifted. They really went that extra mile, so to speak, to find a way to be happy no matter what else was going on in their life.

Just because life gets hard or challenging, doesn't mean we can't find joy in our journey. No matter what is happening in my life, I know that if I follow this example, I can be happy come rain, shine, hail, or even hell! I believe they did more then pave the way for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; they also paved a way, an example of how to be happy, that if we follow, we too can find joy in our journey!

The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, "Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily."

Sent from my iPad