Happiness vs. JOY

Today in Sunday School, the question of the difference between happiness and joy came up. We only talked about it for a minute or two, but it was something I thought was kind of interesting to think about.
We talked about this scripture:
"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have JOY." (2 Nephi 2:27)
We have this beautiful earth to live on and agency to do what we choose so that we can experience this joy. This doesn't necessarily mean being on cloud nine all the time, or even most of the time... so while we might be meant to have joy and we can always have joy, joy isn't necessarily the absence of sadness, pain, or suffering. These things are necessary so we can feel that presence of joy...
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility." (2 Nephi 2:11)
How could we experience the many wonderful things we're given in this life if we didn't also experience the painful parts of life? 
Happiness can be found in all sorts of things.. I am happy every time I finish a long assignment or a test that I've studied a long time for. I'm happy when I come home from the grocery store with a fresh supply of food. I'm happy when it's the weekend.. I'm happy when I do yoga, go hiking, and go home for the weekend to hang out with my family... These are wonderful things, which all contribute to the overall quality of happiness in my life.. but amid these things are all the things that might make me unhappy. I'm sometimes unhappy when working on that terribly long assignment, or when I'm home for the weekend but get stuck cleaning a messy house... but do these things affect my lasting happiness? If yes I think there's a problem... Of course, there are much bigger things that can cause much greater unhappiness.. death of a parent, child, sibling, or friend, divorce, abuse... there is an endless list of things that really can affect your happiness, and change your life. Pain is inevitable in this life- everyone will experience it, no matter where they live or how much money they make. But while this may affect our happiness, can it determine our joy?
At the end of Senior year we had a speaker come to talk to us Seniors on a Sunday evening... I don't remember his name, but he talked of his wife and baby that were killed in a car accident. This man suffered SO MUCH, yet the message he shared with us was to CHOOSE JOY in our lives. If a man who has lost both his wife and child can tell me that, I think EVERYONE is capable of choosing to live with joy... This man obviously experienced unhappiness. The pain probably lasted for years and he likely still aches when he thinks of his wife and baby- but despite those times when he may not feel happy, he still has JOY. He chooses to live a life filled with joy every single day of his life, regardless of what that day may throw his way.
 So can I allow any trials I go through to determine my joy? I say no! The only thing that determines our joy is ourselves... we may have countless trials that attempt to take away our happiness... but we can CHOOSE for OURSELVES whether we will have lives dominated by sadness, depression, anxiety, loss... or if we will live lives filled with overflowing JOY. :) We won't always be happy. Life is bound to bring its ups and downs and times of overwhelming sadness or hurt... but beneath that sadness can be a constant and underlying comfort of joy.
Where does this joy come from? The gospel of Jesus Christ! The gospel of Christ- our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness- provides a way so that we can be filled with joy ALWAYS. No matter our experiences. His atonement provided means so we could all be comforted, healed, and repent of our sins... "As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with JOY, PEACE, and CONSOLATION. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." (Preach My Gospel pg. 52) Isn't this gospel and this plan wonderful? It provides means so we can experience joy despite the terrible things going on around us. Despite the death, disease, wars, conflict that pollute this earth, we can overcome it all through our savior, Jesus Christ. That is absolutely AMAZING and WONDERFUL to me :) Can I just say that I am so very grateful for the restored gospel in my life? It brings more joy and love into my life than can yoga, fishy crackers, chick flicks, or french toast... Without this gospel my life would be empty. It makes me so excited to go out and serve a mission next year so I can bring this wonderful message to other people too :)
One last scripture....
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)
Isn't it wonderful that through his atonement we are healed? From all the griefs, sorrows, transgressions, and iniquities we have or will go through... through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can be healed.
In my eyes, that is the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is in those things like yoga and french toast, joy lies in the ATONEMENT of Jesus Christ. We may not all feel like we have as many things as others to make us feel happy in this life... but through the atonement, we can feel the joy experienced from the love of the savior for each and every one of us. :)

What am I grateful for?

It's not Thanksgiving quite yet.. but I was reading my Book of Mormon tonight and came across a verse that overwhelmed me with such a desire to be grateful.. and to write and share those things. And after all, as soon as Halloween is over everyone will jump to celebrate Christmas, forgetting much of Thanksgiving and the importance of gratitude... so I feel like it's acceptable to share this post a little early in the season.. and really, we need to be grateful all year long. So I think it's alright :)
First off, I want to share that scripture I read... I don't know if anyone's read it the way I did tonight, but it just stuck out to me. It is Mosiah 24:22, which is talking of Alma and his people, who had been persecuted and in bondage by the Lamanites.... and were finally delivered with God's help. This verse says:

"And they gave thanks to God, yeah, all their men and all their women and all their children that could speak lifted their voices in the praises of their God." 

I'm not totally sure why, but the part that stuck out to me was the last part... that all who could speak lifted their voices in praise... That image seemed so powerful to me. Imagining this group of people who had suffered so much and were probably hungry and tattered from their trials, needing to distance themselves from the source of their bondage... yet they stood together and gave thanks to their God... All of them. Every person who was physically capable of speaking expressed their thanks to God. This group of afflicted people did everything in their capacity to show their thanks.
This made me wonder what I am doing to show my gratitude to God after literally giving me EVERYTHING... am I doing all that I am capable of to show my gratitude? Do I speak with every part of my existence that I am grateful for and love my God? Do I do so in every action, word, and thought? Do I worship him with every part of my body and soul? It made me think of the scripture 2 Nephi 25:26

"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Am I talking, rejoicing, and preaching of Christ? Do I heed what the prophets and scriptures tell of him and personal revelation from the spirit? Do I write according to these things so that others and my future children will know of my belief? I realized that I want to do a better job of showing that I am a follower of Christ. That I worship him and love him. That I am eternally and overwhelmingly grateful to him. I don't just want to do this by expressing gratitude as I pray, or writing a silly blog post.. I want to live this! I want every aspect of my life to reflect my love for him. How I treat people, how I treat myself- in how I take care of my body as well as how I treat my mind- do I sit around wasting time? Or do I dedicate time to putting knowledge into that mind he's given me? Spending my time with good people who lift me and make me want to do even better, and spending time with people whom I can lift as well. Sharing these beliefs with people... whether it be my family, friends, strangers... whoever! Letting that love of the Lord reflect on who I am and allowing it to make me happier and therefore allowing that happiness and light to shine out to people and make them curious and willing to know for themselves. People who are entirely dedicated to the gospel are the happiest people I know, so why not do all I can to be one of those happy people? I think I can do so by showing my love and gratitude for my God :)

So there's my spiel on gratitude... :)
But there's more.... I need to share the Thanksgiving craft Daina (my roommate) and I did last night! We were bored of sitting doing homework, so looked at crafty ideas on pinterest (my new best friend since being here at school) and decided to make Thanksgiving wreaths! I found this pin... so we decided on the idea of making gratitude wreaths... :)

We got supplies and made a wreath for each of our doors... so we could tape leaves to each one saying things we were grateful for/liked about that person. I think it was quite cute and brilliant of us :) Here's the picture of the wreath on mine and Daina's door... It's going to be so nice and full of happy gratitude-filled leaves by the time Thanksgiving rolls around! :)

Here are pictures of us making them... :)

One of the other finished wreaths... without any leaves pinned on yet

Writing a nifty little poem to instruct our other roommates on what to do with the wreaths :)

It was quite a lovely craft... fun and good to encourage a spirit of love and gratitude for each other! I thought it would be fun to do at home with my family throughout the month of November... but I won't be home before thanksgiving to join in on the fun :( It would be a good little activity to encourage feelings of gratitude for one another though :) Or just one wreath on the front door could have general things you're grateful for... just some fun little ideas! :)

Italians know how to do it right :) - Amazing Farmhouse in Tuscany :)

My mom just got our tickets to fly into Italy and travel through Italy, Germany, and France this summer. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! :) :) :) Yesterday she sent me links to see the places we're staying at in Italy. We aren't a fancy hotel staying family. My mom searches out all the best deals and finds really cheap places to stay  that are really cool, authentically European homes/apartments. I am so in love with the timeless European style... These places are hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years old. Everything is just so REAL looking.... it is amazing to me. How is it that the Europeans just know how to do things... they just know how to live right :) At least how to make their homes look right.... I looked at every photo of every place we're staying a few times.... just soaking it all in and getting even more excited to go. One place was looked so amazing. Like it was out of a magazine or something. Sadly, it's the one place my mom and Heidi are going before I arrive in Italy (Tuscany), but I can still enjoy the richness of its character and love it so much that I have to make a blog post just for its sake... it's just too amazing not to share :)

It's hard to say all I love about this kitchen..... the simplicity is beautiful, yet every detail is so rich at the same time! I love the wooden window and the ledge beneath the window, the simple curtains, the large sink, the fabric curtain beneath the cupboard, the doors, the box of wood, the floor... it's so simple yet so beautiful! The basket of fresh fruit... with leaves still on it, a block if Italian cheese.... It makes me want to live in this beautiful place!

That bookcase built into the wall, the desk, wooden beams across the ceiling, and again the stone floor :)

The cool blue/white walls, the lavender in the pitcher, the bed...

I don't even get to stay here specifically.... but needless to say it makes me extremely excited to experience the beautiful simplicity of European culture. I've been to France once, and can't wait to wander again among the fields of lavender and taste the fresh baguette and goat cheese! :)