Joy in the Journey

I have enjoyed going to Music and the Spoken Word each week this year. It has been a wonderful way for me to start the Sabbath. It puts me in the right mood, helps lift my spirit, and starts my Sunday worship perfectly. I have enjoyed the spirit that the music has brought to my life and I have gained a greater appreciation for the effort that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and the countless others who work tirelessly to make the broadcast exceptional each week. This has been a wonderful weekly tradition that I fully intend to keep.

This week’s broadcast was exceptional for many reasons, and not just because I got to sit next to my favorite person on the planet (if you are reading this, it is true! You are my favorite person!). The message was something that I absolutely loved and have been thinking about a lot recently. It was entitled “The Road of Life” and was all about the different journey’s we are on in our lives. There are two paragraphs that I want to share that touched my heart in a way that I wasn’t expecting this morning.

“During those rough patches, it’s easy to become discouraged, especially when we look at others whose way seems much smoother. We hear stories of people who accomplish remarkable things and wonder how they got such an easy path. But the truth is, there is no fast lane, no shortcut to true happiness and peace. Every life path winds its way through sorrows and setbacks before cresting on the sunlit highlands of contentment and accomplishment. Every autobiography–written or unwritten–has its plot twists before reaching its ‘happily ever after.’

So instead of comparing our road to someone else’s, it may be more productive to see each other as fellow travelers along what ends up being pretty much the same road. After all, none of us makes it very far without help. Indeed, we were sent here not to compete with each other but to walk side by side–to help each other when the road gets steep and to enjoy the pleasant stretches together.”

These two paragraphs are profound and wonderfully written, and bring a lot of what I have been thinking about recently to light and to words that I wasn’t sure how best to express. Life can be crazy. It can take twists and turns. We all have moments where we stumble, where we feel lost and afraid, or where we feel like we can’t go any further. I don’t think that there is a single person on the face of the earth who hasn’t looked around at people around us and wonder how they have it so easy. What we forget though is that everyone has his or her own trials and difficulties. Some people have very visible difficulties, and other people have trials that are not visible to anyone else, but deeply internal. No one has it easy in this life. Everyone has struggles and difficulties which can seem crippling to each and every one of us.

The journey in life can be rough, that’s for sure. President Monson spoke about that very thing and gave a suggestion that I think is extremely necessary. In his talk, “Joy in the Journey. He says, “Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, ‘They do not love that do not show their love.’ We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.”

My journey as a gay Mormon has brought me so much joy and happiness. Sure, there are confusing times, but everyone has confusing times in their lives, not just me. My situation may be different than yours, but that is one of the great things in this life. The fact that we all have so many different things, but can come together and help each other on the various paths that we are all on and make it to the same road that leads us back to our Heavenly Father. I am noticing more and more how necessary it is for us all to learn to help each other out, lift one another in our burdens, and be there to help each other in the good times and the difficult times.

President Monson gives one great tip to help us find joy in our journeys, and that is to never let the stresses we may find ourselves in detract from the most valuable and important things in our lives, and that almost always means the people around us. Recent events in my life have helped me to realize that what is most important to me in my life are the people who I know and love. I always seem to end up here when I am writing, but that is because I can never fully express just how much I love the people in my life. Something that rings true to me is the fact that I am an eternal being having a mortal experience, and that I existed before I was born, and I will exist forever. I will one day be resurrected and have the opportunity to live with my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ once again. The fact that I am an eternal being has came to mean more to me recently, for many reasons, but I think that the most important reason to me is because of the relationships that I have in my life.

Why would the relationships in my life mean so much to me as part of my eternal existence? I believe that the love and relationships developed in this life will continue and grow stronger in the next life. I have found joy in my journey because I have found some incredible people who love me and support me, who don’t compare their paths to mine but are willing to just walk with me, supporting me and loving me for me. People who are just wanting me to be successful in life and continue moving towards my Heavenly Father. I have THE BEST FRIENDS on the face of the planet who support me in keeping my covenants, help me to recognize truths, and allow me to be me without any pretexts or lies. There are so many people who have helped me to find joy in my journey, and I hope that we all can see our journeys as joyful ones. Difficult times arise for all of us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t find joy. I personally have so much to be joyful about. I have some amazing friends who mean more to me than I could ever begin to explain and I wish I could list each and every one of you and explain exactly how much you all mean to me in detail, but I figure that is something I can do in person, so just know that I love you all and your friendship and love means so much to me. I have a family who want what’s best for me and is willing to sacrifice so much for me. I have a strong testimony that is built on a firm foundation. I know that God loves me for me. My journey is a wonderful one. I am finding so much joy in my journey and I pray that we all kind continue to walk together as fellow travelers on this path, celebrating one another’s successes and helping each other to feel the love of our Savior and Heavenly Father.