Happily Ever After

Every girl from the time that she is small longs for her prince charming and waits for her happily ever after. What does happily ever after even mean? My current missionary companion, Sister Egbert, used to work at Disney World and was surrounded by princesses and dreams of far away lands on a daily basis. This is the definition she gave me for the typical happily ever after:

"The princess walks in and just like that the prince knows that they're meant to be together. Something over-dramatic happens, but all is well when they're together again. It ends with the most perfect first kiss and it's the most magical, powerful thing in the world and solves all their problems forever afterwards." 

uhh.. puh-lease! If all it took was some faith, trust and pixie dust I should have arrived at my happily ever after quite some time ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for the predictable, sing a long, romantic fairy tale movie just as much as I was when I was little (and I may or may not still cry at most of them) but the older I get, the more I realize that life is hard and that happily ever after doesn't come to those who sit and wait for it to happen.

During my scripture study the other day, I came across this verse: 

And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.
2 Nephi 5:27

This verse seems to have so much packed into a tiny little sentence. What is the manner of happiness? How do we live after it? I did a lot of pondering over this and decided the following:

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+ living after the manner of happiness means living after the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means having faith in him, repenting of our sins, making and keeping sacred covenants with our father in heaven, such as baptism and receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.

+ living after the manner of happiness means serving those around us.

+living after the manner of happiness means consistently studying the word of God in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the words of the latter-day prophets.

+ living after the manner of happiness is attending the temple regularly.

+ living after the manner of happiness is striving to make our homes and our hearts centered on Christ

+ living after the manner of happiness is sharing the gospel with our friends, our neighbors, our family, our children, etc.

+ living after the manner of happiness is attending church and magnifying our callings.

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Not once did it cross my mind that living after the manner of happiness would include perfection, nor would it include a lack of hard times. We know that in this life that trials and tribulation will come, but we know that with Christ on our side, we can overcome whatever comes our way, and we can find happiness in the journey.

"Sandwiched between their "once upon a time" and "happily ever after," [the fairy tale characters] had to experience great adversity. ... In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy."
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Your Happily Ever After

Our happily ever after is real. Living with our families together forever in perfect happiness and in the presence of our Father in Heaven is real. He has provided us a way to get there, and that is to live after the manner of happiness while we are here on this earth. It is so apparent to me in ever aspect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that God loves us and that he wants us to be happy. Both in this life and for eternity.

We are all a part of God's marvelous masterpiece. He is the king of heaven and earth, and we are His sons and daughters, princesses and princes. Years ago, I was at a girl's camp with a "daughter of a king" theme and received a letter from my dad that talked about that divine nature.

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Kaleigh, you are daddy's little princess. Every night when you were little I would tuck you in and say "Goodnight, Princess Kaleigh." You always have had something inside you that longs to be special and beautiful, and to have an honorable champion to fight for you, like the prince in Cinderella. There were times when I would sit and watch you pretending to be a princess, wishing that there was a way I could say... "Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidy-bobbidy-boo" and everything would be perfect for you. I wished, if only for a while, you could be a real princess. 

Not that you want to be treated like a princess who is needy or helpless. No! Princesses are strong, and courageous too. You definitely have the fight to conquer dragons! Maybe you played like that because in your deepest emotions you want someone to see that you are worth fighting for and long to know that you are of great value and are cherished. 

You are of great value! You are a princess, as a daughter of our Father in Heaven an heir to all that he has. You are a princess of your earthly father and mother, a joy and a blessing in our lives. Hold onto that inner princess. It exists in your heart, mind and soul. Your inner princess is something that you cannot see or touch. It is far from tangible but it is part of who you are. Your inner princess is filled with joy and love and wants to live in a harmonious world. So find that power in your inner princess to live that magical life with confidence, self-assertiveness, passion, happiness and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Never be afraid to keep seeing yourself as a princess, because you are one! (And definitely don't waste your time kissing any frogs.) 

- Dad

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Let us all live up to our full potential as sons and daughters of the most high God,
living after the manner of happiness so that we too, can find our happily ever after.