“Trials are mandatory; Happiness is optional.”

We’ve all heard people say, “I’m the happiest person in the world!” Perhaps we’ve even said or thought it ourselves. But what made them happy? What made us happy? Wasn’t it because everything in our lives was going perfectly—everything we ever wanted was happening to us? Heavenly Father was blessing us. Our "love buckets" were full. Life was good.

Well, I’d like to propose that the happiest people really are those who can find joy in life despite being in the middle of a trial or hardship. People who—if everything was taken away from them right now—would still be able to smile. People who look for the positive despite the bad things happening to them. People like Job or Joseph Smith or those select few angels on earth that have been in your life just long enough to leave an impression on you.

No one’s perfect. Even the happiest people still cry and have moments of hopelessness. But getting on their knees means something to them, and they’re still thanking Heavenly Father for the blessing in their lives whether it’s perfect or the worst it has ever been.

I guess this has all been on my mind a lot lately. I wish I could say I was the person who found happiness no matter the circumstance, but I’d be putting up a façade. Honestly, when things are going well, I find it easy to be grateful. But when things aren’t going so great…well, I wish I could be more consistent with my feelings. I know I have so much to be grateful for, and yet the minute something goes wrong, I seem to lose sense of what truly matters. Of what I do have.

I know this is where the Atonement comes in, and the amazing power of forgiveness. I know this is why God knows all things and I don’t. I know this is why faith and hope and trust are so important. This is when I remind myself that without the truth of the gospel, I wouldn’t even have a sense of what true happiness is—and can always be.

This life is a test, but Heavenly Father isn’t going to give us more than we can handle. He wants us to be happy. But He also wants us to be like Him. And how else can He help smooth out our rough edges if we don’t go through the furnace now and again? I guess what I’m trying to say—more to myself than to anyone else—is that we’re going to have trials; it’s part of the Plan. But it doesn’t mean we can’t find reasons to be happy. If we’re only the “happiest people on the earth” when life is going grand, we’re going to be pretty miserable most of the time. At least, this is what I’m learning pretty quickly. Those perfect moments are few and rare and beautiful when they occur, but they can’t last forever. Heavenly Father loves us too much to let us coast for too long—even on the good things in life.

I hope we know what true happiness is and seek it--or seek Him, as should be said. I hope we recognize what we have and find reasons to always be grateful, whether it's hard to be or not. I want so much to be like Job or Joseph Smith or those people I admire so much, who despite adversity in their lives, trusted in the Lord and made the most of what they had. I may be struggling right now with things, but it doesn't mean I can't be happy. I don't believe happiness is an oil-in-water type thing, where bad things happening and joy can't blend. Instead, we can turn all rainy days into puddle-splashing fiestas.

If so, I'm looking forward to many rainy days ahead.