After that time, the angel bade Nephi to look. He looked and saw her with a child in her arms. The angel identifies this child as the Lamb of God, the Son of the Eternal Father. That's a lot of titles, but only some of many that are used for Him. Then the angel asks if Nephi knows the meaning of the tree now. He says yes, it is the love of God and it sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of men. It is the most desirable of all things. This is a powerful statement. Only if all men knew it. I wondered this, so I did a quick search for what people want most. Many said that they wanted to be happy. Of course there was a little of the "worldly" views, but this thought impressed me. I did another quick search about what makes people happy. There was a webpage from the BBC where someone had compiled a list of stories that were sent in on what makes people happy. Here is the link. These stories also impressed me. They seem genuine and I was happy just reading them. They talk a lot about family, nature, staying out of debt and that money doesn't bring happiness, serving others, humor in life, being outgoing, etc. (Some did mention drinking, and I don't condone those ones.) Here's one that made a lot of sense to me:
"How to be happy - this advice was given to me many years ago by a man I consider to be a genius at being happy:
Bob Yeldham, Wales"
I like this one because it's practical and I'm doing a lot of these already. 1. Cultivate a passion. I have passions, some of which cultivation is put on hold because of school. Oh, wait, school is a passion, too! (Well, most of the time.) 2. Be part of something bigger than yourself. The Church is a perfect one for this. It is the perfect organization to be a part of that is bigger than oneself. 3. Don't resist change. Change does happen. (Like moving to the other side of the country.) Change can bring good things. We've made friends here and we can be friends for other's too, to help lift them and help them to be happy. 4. Live for the moment. This one I need to work on. A lot of times I look forward to things and back on things so much that I miss the moment. Last night I played with my girls when I came home. It was so much fun and very rewarding to see them smile at me and laugh. I would guess that that would be living for the moment. 5. Audit your happiness. I take this as time to think about things, maybe items from this list. See if you're happy. I hope that everyone can say they have something to be happy about. 6. Play the part and be happy! This is something that I think is important. If you play the part of a Gloomy Gus, then you're going to be sad. It is all in your attitude about things. If you say to yourself, this day is going to be a happy one and look on that side of things it will be. A lot of times I hear about someone having a bad day because of one event. Don't let that one event ruin an entire day. Say to yourself, from now on, this day will be great!
So, back to the love of God. I think that the love of God is manifest in all these things. It is truly the most desirable of all things. These are signs that God loves each one of us. He has given us family, church, friends, nature (which is full of metaphors), knowledge, and the list goes on and on. He might have even given you personal knowledge that He loves you. He might have told you that as an answer to a prayer of, "Heavenly Father, do you love me?" If you pray and ask those words, you will feel the Spirit tell you that Heavenly Father does, and this bringeth joy to the soul.
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