An Easier Way?

I've recovered from my post-election results depression.  God has commanded us to not fear, and that is what I will cleave to.  I know that there will be many mountains to climb and struggles to face in the future, but God is with us, who can be against us?  He is my shadow by day and my pillar by night.  I love the Lord and will live my life fully for him, no matter what happens in the world around me, I will see the good and see His hand, He is in control.  Go forward with faith in every footstep.

Just listened to an amazing talk by Elder Holland called "The Inconvenient Messiah" that helped these feelings of determined optimism to be resolved.  My favorite part:

"If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived. " - Elder Holland

If Mitt Romney had won, I had hopes that this world had a little more time to work, repent, and prepare, and that it would be a little easier than suffering through this tough Obama Economy and tolerating the taunts of those around us who do not fear God or think his commandments have any merit.  We are in for hard times ahead... We need not fear, look to the light house of the Lord and build upon His rock, he will lead us through the darnkenss...

More from Elder Holland's talk ~

Should earning our place in the kingdom of God be so difficult? Surely there is an easier way? Can't we buy our way in? Every man or woman does have a price, don't they? Can't you buy anything in this world for money? Sometimes we wonder. I offer one sobering fact about our lives together. BYU is not here to help you make money. Any university in this land can do that. We hope your education brings income sufficient for your needs, but we have no mission at all if we are simply turning you out into the best current job market, whatever and wherever that may be. BYU has been established to extend to you the very glory of God, his intelligence, his light, and his truth. And that light and truth, by scriptural promise, is to forsake the evil one, your tempter. No, not everyone does have a price. Some things can't be purchased. Money and fame and earthly glory are not our eternal standard. Indeed these can, if we are not careful, lead to eternal torment.

Emerson said once,
Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.
["Ode Inscribed to W. H. Channing," Poems]

Well, at BYU we refuse to be ridden. As much as this university and this Church and you and I as individuals need the wherewithal to feed and clothe ourselves and further the work of the kingdom, we do not need to sell our souls to get them. And here again, we are tempted to think there is an easy way, a fast buck, that in the world's goods and the glories of men's kingdoms, we may ride through reaping, as the very convenient Messiah. But why do we think it when it was never so for Him? What do we do with a stable for birthplace and a borrowed tomb at his death? And in his lifetime? Not one single mention of earthly possessions. 

I now know that life will not get easier temporally for us in the years ahead, but that doesn't mean that my happiness and joy needs to be diminished.  I will cleave to God even more, Jesus Christ is the only sure foundation.