a fortune cookie on a cover of a book has stuck with me and I finally got the book and started reading it. the fortune cookie in the cover said "God's gift of joy is always worth the price"

the title of the book is Redefining joy in the last days. By Chris Stewart.
yes this is a LDS "mormon" book but it is soo good. So far, my favorite long quote is this....


"Think about it. We know the heavens wept when Lucifer and his followers were cast out. Christ was angry with the moneychangers. He was a man of sorrows, with body, parts, and passion. He was disappointed with His followers from time to time, and at one time even 'sore amazed' at his own suffering(Mark 14:33). These are not ungodly emotions. And if even Jesus and Heavenly Father feel those seemingly very human emotions from time to time, how could we possible expect that we cold live in this world and not feel them as well? It is part of our existance. It seems to be an eternal part. And part of learning to be like our Father is learning to expreience these emotions without letting then overtake us, without letting them define us or become the larger part of our lives...it is unrealistic to think our lives will de devoid of such emotion....it is not a bad thing."

I thought that we wouldn't have been given these feelings if we weren't supposed to use them. I liked that he said that we were to learn to use them properly.

another thought he discussed was that we have a a mental list of the way our lives are supposed to be like and when they don't follow our picture perfect life we feel failure and discouragement. he mentioned that we need another way to measure joy in our lives. He gave an example of when he was in dessert training for the air force.

"Several days into this training, I was so hot and tired and thirsty I thought I wasgoing to die. But instead of lyingdown and whining (which is what I felt like doing). I did what they taught me to do. Finding an old stream bed, I searched for some vegitation, then started digging in the sand. I dug and dug until I couldn't reach down any farther. Then, exausted, I rolled up in my jacket and fell asleep. Overnight, a couple of inches of water seeped into my hole. when I woke up in the morning I saw that water, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was dirty and full of bugs and sand, but I did not care. I knew it was enough to quench my thirst. I knew it was enough to keep me alive.
Our lives, like this water, may not be perfect. They may be a little gritty and have an occational bug and mouthful of dirt. And if that's the case, we have 2 choices. We can go to God and demand that He sweep His hand across our lives and make them perfect. We can insist on drinking only the bottled water of life, then get angry or upsetif we don't get what we want. OR we can ask ourselves, 'Is the water I've been given enough? Yes it may be dirty, but is it enough? Though my life may not be perfect, are the blessings I've beengiven enough to sustain me?
there will be times in our lives--many times-- when we will drink water that is cool and clean and pure. And during those times, we will in joy.
But there are other times when the lord will ask us to endure., when the water of life may contain a little grit and sand. If we approach those times with the right perspective and appreciation, I think we will see that in almost every case, the water he gives us is enough. Even in the most challenging times we can live, if not in perfect happiness, then in perfect peace. And sometimes peace is all we need.
As we look at our occasionally broken dreams or shattered expectations sometimes I think it helps to ask ourselves, 'maybe I don't have everything and maybe my life isn't perfect, but has God blessed me with enough to still be happy? I think that if we were really to consider this question, the answer would nearly always be yes."

I found this whole book has been enlightening to read. I am glad I read it.