I’m thankful President Oaks publicly declared those ideas.  I’m also thankful he focused on eternal principles throughout his remarks, especially the principle of moral agency.  The Constitution certainly isn’t perfect, but it does support that society most free to exercise agency.  Thus, we should all be defending our Constitution, despite its flaws and limitations.

President Oaks began his remarks by establishing his authority.  A former clerk to the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, law professor, and justice on the Utah Supreme Court, he’s certainly more than amply qualified to have a platform.

But the qualification he listed last and “most important” intrigued me most.  He’s been an Apostle of Jesus Christ for 37 years.  As President Oaks described, that means he’s “responsible to study the meaning of the divinely inspired United States Constitution to the work of His restored Church.”

Here he segues into a discussion of moral agency.  God inspired the Founding Fathers to assemble a system of government that would maximize the exercise of moral agency.  And as we know, agency is key in our Heavenly Father’s eternal plan for His children.  Defending the Constitution therefore promotes God’s plan of happiness.

President Oaks then mentioned some of the threats to the undergirding principles of the Constitution.  Said he,

The threats to the Constitution, and by extension to our Heavenly Father’s plan, are very real and very much growing.

So can we do about it?  What should we do to defend the Constitution?  President Oaks provides some answers.  I love how he starts by encouraging optimism, declaring “we should trust in the Lord and be positive about this nation’s future.”

Founded in faith and positive thinking, we should pray for leaders in all nations and then seek to exercise a righteous influence civilly, peacefully, and legally.  Also, in these divisive times, “we should seek to moderate and unify.”

These days, everyone loves to talk about their rights and what they’re entitled to receive.  But few speak of their duties and what they should give.  It’s people performing their duties that make the rights of all available.  That’s why I applaud President Oaks in listing three duties every good citizen has.

1. Learn and advocate the principles of the Constitution,
2. Seek and support good people who’ll support those principles in public office (D&C 98:10), and
3. Make your influence felt in civic affairs as informed citizens.

President Oaks then describes how we can and should make our influence felt.

That power-packed list reveals more I need to do to support the Constitution.  And I love how President Oaks reiterated King Benjamin’s counsel not to do everything at once (Mosiah 4:27).  We all have different seasons in life, and the combination of actions appropriate in one season may not be appropriate in another.

Let’s truly celebrate Independence Day by defending our Constitution.  Perhaps the best place for you to start is where I’m starting — by reading and becoming more familiar with the actual document itself.  Or perhaps you need to consider running for a position in an upcoming election.  Or maybe you need to call or email an elected official about a current issue.

What you do today may not be what you do tomorrow, but we should always be doing something.  The threats to the Constitution President Oaks described have grown precisely because far too many of us have been doing nothing in civic life.  We’ve been busy focusing on our careers, our loved ones, and our own lives, and enough responsible people have been so absorbed in that busyness that we’ve allowed irresponsible people to hold office.

The Constitution has imperfections, but one thing it does right is give ultimate power to the people.  Let’s celebrate the birth of our nation by learning about and then committing to safeguard that power.  And the best way to safeguard it is to exercise it civilly, peacefully, and legally.  When we persist in so doing, we can enjoy the fruits of freedom to exercise the moral agency essential to God’s plan and preserve that gift for the next generation.  And that will bring us more joy in our journey.

When life seems to go bat nut crazy, you can easily get caught up in the craziness, because it’s easy to accept the reality we’re presented.  With that acceptance comes stress.  You wonder how the future could ever possibly be bright.

But the truth remains: Your focus determines your reality.  When you focus on crazy, you get crazy.  But when you include more of what’s around you in your focus, the craziness occupies a lower proportion of the whole, thereby diminishing your stress from the craziness.  And the best way to get that expanded focus is to step outside yourself.

I’m reminded of an old Native American question: “Who can own the land?”  In their world view, people don’t own land.  Rather, the Creator provides the land for all.

That perspective draws me out of myself to see the world as a place God created so His purposes for me and all my spirit brothers and sisters could be fulfilled.  That view helps me to experience more fully the wonder of the world around me.  And having lived across the United States, I’ve seen many marvelous wonders of natural landscape.

I can’t help but be biased towards mountains.  Mountains breathe strength and determination into me.  They seem like a natural representation for closeness to God.  That said, I’ve felt a certain calm watching the tide roll in the shore of a lake or the edge of the ocean.  I’ve marveled at the way sunlight bends around the curves of rolling prairies.  Even the desert has a beauty all its own.

Only when I step outside myself do I experience the full wonder the natural world offers.  Only when I step outside myself do I feel full gratitude to God for creating such a beautiful world for me to live in.

That perspective of God’s creation invites me to see more as He sees.  When I see the world as His creation to fulfill His eternal purposes for me, I naturally recall God did likewise for all His children.  God has a plan, and He is in control.

And that plan hasn’t changed.  It’s the same plan He’s had all along, the one presented in the council in heaven, the one Satan rejected, the one our Savior supported, the one calling for all of us to experience mortality in this world and with it the opportunity to grow in the eternities into something more than we could ever become otherwise.

Likewise, God retains the same control today He’s always had.  He was in control when the same plan He’s always had was presented in heaven.  He was in control when He created this world and the rest of the universe.  He’s been in control throughout human history.  And He retains that same control today.

None of this is to say the challenges the craziness around us presents aren’t real.  I’m not advocating we fix rose-colored glasses on our faces.  God’s continual control doesn’t mean life won’t ever get difficult.  But His control does mean He’ll guide us through troubled times and strengthen us to persevere through difficult days.  And we best hear His voice and receive His strength on the covenant path.

So the question then is this: What path will you choose?  Will it be the covenant path?  Or will you take a different path?  The path to happiness is found in living by faith with intention to give your all to all the right things for you.  Those right things include making and keeping sacred covenants with God.  They also include embracing a personal ministry to share your light with the world around you.

When you step outside yourself, you can more clearly see beyond the challenges current circumstances present.  You can feel the wonders in the world around you.  You can see your current place in your life more as God sees it.  You can live by faith He’ll guide you away from dangers.  You can feel His strength as you pursue a life of contribution with intention.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

That perspective transforms everything about the Lord’s work into gathering Israel.  It makes sense when you consider President Nelson’s observation that “one of the Hebraic meanings of the word Israel is ‘let God prevail.’ Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life.”  And indeed, LDS singles are abundantly blessed when they submit their will to God’s and let God prevail in their life.

I love the story President Nelson shares about Jill.  Struggling with her father’s approaching death and her own questions regarding testimony, Jill was at first startled to hear President Nelson describe her perspective as “myopic.”  But further reflection on that word led her to embracing God’s will, adopting a more eternal perspective, and finding peace.  These blessings came to her as she let God prevail in her life.

Of course, the key portion of President Nelson’s message applies to all, though I think it has particular application for LDS singles.  After rightfully decrying the prejudice of racism, President Nelson declared,

With all the voices in our crazy modern world, are you willing to open your ears to God’s voice more than any other?  Are you willing to put His work ahead of your own desires, even righteous desires like securing an eternal companion?  Will you walk away from someone you love who wants to marry you if God says no?  Will you submit your will to His even when it seems completely crazy and makes absolutely no sense to do so?  Will you let God prevail in your life?

President Nelson then begins applying those key questions to different situations.  And the first situation he tackles?  Being single.  He said, “If you are unmarried and seeking an eternal companion, your desire to be ‘of Israel’ will help you decide whom to date and how.”

When I first encountered those words, I wondered why President Nelson did not expound upon them.  How exactly does my desire to be “of Israel” help me decide whom to date when choosing between two active Church members?  And then there’s the bigger question: How does my desire to be “of Israel” help me decide how to proceed with dating?

In reflecting upon these questions, I realized President Nelson didn’t expound more upon them because he doesn’t need to.  Do you remember when in 2018 he said this?

In that same address about revelation, President Nelson taught,

When you submit your will to God’s, you position yourself to understand better how you should navigate the seas of your singleness.  That’s why, coming back to the present address, we find President Nelson teaching this:

Most of the time, it really is a matter of perspective.  Our focus does indeed become our reality.  When we let God prevail in our lives, we focus upon His objectives.  And because His work and glory is our salvation and exaltation (Moses 1:39), that focus brings us the most joyful reality.

Doing the work to let God prevail isn’t easy, of course.  Surrendering one’s will to God never has been and never will be easy.  President Nelson acknowledges this truth:

There’s so much more I want to get into here,  but limitations force me to defer that discussion to later in the broadcast.  Here’s the bottom line: When you let God prevail in your life, you’ll understand more clearly what really matters in God’s plan.  You’ll see more clearly the path leading to your greatest happiness now and in eternity.  And you’ll feel more of God’s love strengthening you to walk that path.

So let God prevail in your life.  You’ll see the miracle your life can become when you do.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

Many singles hold to that assumption under the guise of having standards.  They seem to see themselves acting nobly in a chaotic dating world by adhering to their standard that insists on only the best.  But such standards actually impede progress in one’s dating journey.  So if you insist on believing you’ll be happy only with the most attractive companion, then you’re letting your standards keep you single.

How does one progress in dating?  As I discuss in my upcoming book about dating, to progress to each next stage of the journey, you must make an agreement.  No agreement means no progress.  Period.

In the first stage of the dating journey, you meet new people and build friendships.  In the next stage, you casually date candidates you’ve befriended.  These activities require openness to social interactions.  Otherwise, you’ll likely never get the agreement you need to progress from friendship to casual dating and on to exclusive dating.

But assuming you can be happy in life only if your partner is the “best” or most attractive type limits those interactions.  That faulty assumption will encourage you to engage only with those who meet your standards, because what’s the point, after all, in “wasting your time” with people who simply won’t do romantically because they aren’t the “best”?

Mathematically, it just isn’t possible for everyone to have the “best.”  Yet many singles cling tenaciously to the hope they’ll be one of the few to score just such a life partner.  After all, no one wants to accept an unhappy and unfulfilled life.

But happiness in marriage doesn’t come from what each partner has.  Happiness in marriage comes from what each partner gives to each other.  And what you give is a choice.

If your partner has to be the “best” or most attractive sort for you to be happy, then God must have really messed up His plan.  Check out these words from then Elder Gordon B Hinckley.

How can God’s plan provide happiness for all His children if 90% of people aren’t the “best” but just ordinary?  Mathematically, 90% of singles can’t each have monogamous marriage with someone from the top 10%.  At least 80% of singles will be left unhappy if only the “best” makes a happy life.  Because God wants all his children to be happy, clearly happiness must be available without having the most attractive partner.

And happiness is available to those couples who place honoring sacred covenants above personal desires by giving themselves fully to each other.  Your companion doesn’t need to be the “best” or most attractive for you to give all of yourself to that person.  Granted, it’s more easy to do the more attractive your companion is, but it’s not essential for happiness.

The resistance many feel when confronted with such a choice is the natural man or natural woman in each of us.  The natural man and woman value self-gratification more than making and keeping sacred covenants.  Covenant men and women obviously reverse that value system.

I’m not saying we’re interchangeable parts.  You shouldn’t marry just anybody, and having standards does help with decision making.  Far too many LDS singles, however, insist on standards around what really isn’t essential for lasting happiness.  Elder Gerrit W Gong has taught,

Regardless of how you justify it, when you insist on having only the most attractive type of companion, your standards keep you single.  Lowering those standards to accept more candidates into your dating pool doesn’t mean sacrificing happiness.  Rather, it increases your chances of obtaining it.  So reject the natural man and woman, open yourself to possibility, and you may find the blessings you’ve been seeking have been right in front of you all along.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

In that context, the future doesn’t look bright at all.  I don’t have what most single LDS women seem to want, and my effort at acquiring those traits have been far from successful.  In their eyes, I'm a dainty bird that can’t sing well.  Why then even bother trying to sing?

Well, you're guaranteed to fail if you don't sing at all.  And who knows what goodness your song, though poorly sung, will promote?  So even if you sing poorly, still sing.

Emotions like hopelessness are real and legitimate.  Yet following those emotions to their logical conclusion would lead me to where I cannot go.

In my heart, I know God loves me.  I know He wants to bless me with every righteous blessing I desire and more.  In fact, looking back on my life, I see He's worked tirelessly to bring me those desired blessings of companionship.  He hasn't abandoned me.  He has a plan for me and all of His children to progress in this life and in the eternities to come.

So why then, one may well ask, have those desired blessings of companionship not come?  Well, in a word, it’s agency.  People make choices.  And because people aren't perfect, the choices they make aren’t often perfect either.  Sometimes you'll make poor choices, and sometimes others will.

Yet the same agency allowing others to choose against you is the same agency allowing you to choose to your advantage.  You can choose to improve.  You can choose to learn and to practice honing your skills so that you sing better.  But that won’t happen if you don’t sing.  Even if you sing poorly, still sing.

But, you may well ask, what good will that do me today?  If I don't sing well enough right now, I won't be noticed.  And then how will I have my desired blessings?

That's a legitimate question.  Many suitors ignore pathways to their success because they're focused on fulfillment in the present rather than on potential in the future.  But you get the same result if you never sing at all.

Moroni experienced a similar conundrum.  With the abundance of time he had on his hands, he entertained hypothetical what-if scenarios.  What if the Gentiles fail to have charity because my weakness in writing kept the scales of their agency from tipping towards charity?  Wouldn't it be they didn’t have charity because of my weakness?

That argument mirrors the one we’re considering here.  The Gentiles might not have charity whether Moroni writes in his weakness or chooses not to write.  So why then write anything at all?  Of course, the Lord had a very clear answer:*1

The Lord has worked wonders that make any weaknesses Moroni had moot.  What's to say He won't work similar wonders for you and me?  Whatever our weakness, God can turn the songs we sing into powerful performances.  Even if you sing poorly, still sing.

And even if you sing poorly, the more you sing, the better you’ll get at it.  I remember once as a child being told by one of the other Primary children I didn’t sing very well.  I should just shut up and spare everyone.

But I didn’t stop singing.  Mostly I would sing to myself when alone — that childhood experience affected me — but I kept with it.  Many years later in college, I tried out for a musical, hoping to join the choir.  To my great surprise, I got the main part!

Even if you sing poorly, still sing.  As they say, “The show isn’t over until the fat lady sings,” and for many of us singles, that moment is still far away.  Though you may feel bereft of hope, strive on still.  Focus on doing what you can do, keep doing what you can do, and one day you’ll surprise yourself as you exceed your wildest expectations.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

The meeting promptly ended.  With that connection suddenly cut, I felt the loneliness of spiritual vacuum.  “What a great ending to my Sabbath,” I sarcastically remarked to myself.

That episode got me pondering, as my life events frequently do.  The answer for spiritual emptiness is to keep reaching after the light, even when confronted with the blackest of darkness.  That’s also the answer for emptiness in every other part of life, which is too short for you not to follow your bliss.

In reaching after light to combat the Zoom bomb darkness, I opened The Book of Mormon.  There I found this great verse: “And it came to pass that the high priest said unto him: Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings?” (Alma 30:22, emphasis added).

This is an interrogation of anti-Christ Korihor, who later appeared before Alma, the high priest of the Church.  Note the repeated use of that word rejoicing in Alma’s rebuke: “And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren?” (Alma 30:34, emphasis added).

Alma knew what brought rejoicing to his spirit.  He rejoiced in maintaining himself within and helping others along the covenant path.  And he refused to alter his course.  He was determined in his spirit to follow his bliss.

We too can follow our bliss, and not just for our spirits but also for our hearts, minds, and bodies.  For example, depending on who you’re hearing, 60-80% of all Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs.  Clearly many are not following their bliss.

It’s no wonder when you consider the role of habit.  We’re biologically hardwired to have a habit.  And for many, that habit is to list wherever the waves of life carry them, often away from their bliss.  So many are mindlessly marching in a routine routing them to and through a life of mediocrity.

If that describes you, you can break free.  You can live your best life, a life of contribution, fulfillment, and meaning.  Life is short.  Don’t waste it working some job just to pay the bills.  Make your move towards making your mark in a job you love!  Start moving towards your best life!

“But with massive unemployment from the pandemic,” some of you complain, “it’s harder than ever to find new work.”  I’m not advocating stupidity.  Keep your job paying the bills until you can upgrade.  Just don’t stagnate.  Do something every day to move closer to your dreams and goals.  Life is short.  Follow your bliss.

That goes for every area of life.  If you don’t like your lack of education or a certain skill, change it.  If you don’t like your romantic situation, change it.  If you don’t like your friends, change that.  Quit running through life on autopilot.  Life is short.  Start using your agency and make the changes you need to follow your bliss.

Of course, when you correctly understand them, your covenants will never obstruct you from following your bliss.  If you think they do, then what you think is your bliss really isn’t.  The sacred covenants we make at baptism and in the temple will never keep you from your bliss but instead sharpen your focus in following your true bliss.

So keep on keeping your covenants, and within that framework, make the changes you need to follow your bliss.  Life is short.  Don’t let anything, whether it be little lies excusing you from moving closer to your dreams and goals or big life events like COVID-19, stop you from living your best life.  Follow your bliss.  When you do, you’ll exercise the power of agency you’ve always had within you.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

That said, many of us are still taxing ourselves.  We are by nature social creatures, so it’s natural to respond to a crisis by nearing ourselves to others.  Yet the current crisis keeps many of us physically apart.  And without some plan to provide for needs, that separation is taxing many beyond their capacity.

We’ve discussed before the basic areas of life, what I call the spirit, the heart, the mind, and the body.  Regardless of the names you employ, these areas each have their own needs, which will tax anyone’s reserves when left unmet.  And the faith that optimistically inspires us to see beyond the current crisis can guide us to solutions amidst the current crisis.

We achieve that result in large measure by answering this question: “What can I do?”  Too many of us, yearning for a return to normal, seek after what we’d like to do had the pandemic not turned the world upside down.  But that thinking won’t help us thrive in our new world.  We must adapt or die.  To thrive in a new reality, we must change our thinking to match the landscape.

For example, before the pandemic hit, I was investigating exercise options.  Then the pandemic eliminated the gym as an option.  But instead of wallowing in my inability, which would just lead me to inaction and its attendant reality lacking results, I focused on answering “What can I do?”  That question led me to using my own body weight for strength training and walking in my neighborhood for cardio.  That combined with changes in diet have led to my first real weight loss success in a long time.

In like manner, we can ask “What can I do?” to address any need in life.  By focusing our attention on what we can do, we empower ourselves not only to conquer the challenges before us but to do so with a smile-laden gusto.  We really can have joy in life regardless of our circumstances.

That power to transcend our troubles resides in agency, God’s gift made meaningful by Jesus Christ.  His Atonement makes it possible to triumph over sin and death, obstacles that separate us from God.  Without that Atonement, our overcoming any obstacle in this world would have no meaning.  We would all unavoidably perish (Alma 34:9).

Of course, such a key component in our eternity did not come about by chance.  It was part of a plan provided before this world was.  What we see now created temporally God first created spiritually (Moses 3:5).  Following that example as we answer the question “What can I do?” will lead us to the plans we need to meet our needs during the coming months.

With so much unknown at present about coronavirus, we can expect the current situation of sequestering and social distancing to last at least through summer.  Do you have the plans and the means in place to meet your own needs during that time?

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  But you don’t have to fail.  You have a choice.  You have power within that choice to change your attitude and how you think.  And when you change how you think, you change your life.  You can feel real joy regardless of what negative or pessimistic circumstances surround you.

Don’t tax yourself by failing to plan appropriately for your changed landscape.  Ask yourself, “What can I do?” and then partner with the Lord as you answer that question.  Those answers can structure a plan for meeting your needs for as long as the crisis lasts.  The storm of pandemic may rage on the outside, but you can live with faith, optimism, and confidence on the inside.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

But you can still own your life.  You can still take responsibility for yourself and the results you have in your life.  And today is the perfect opportunity to do just that because today is April Fool’s Day.  Now, I’ll admit social distancing and sequestering have radically changed the landscape.  But a change in landscape should never signal us to surrender positive energy.  Now more than ever we should be always up for fun.

Many people don’t associate staying at home with fun.  They think about going out to restaurants, stores, malls, parks, concert venues, and the like.  Many of us approach April Fool’s Day the same way, conjuring images of practical jokes played on people and often in front of other people.

But that was yesterday.  Today the landscape is different.  We need to practice social distancing and sequester ourselves in our homes as much as possible.  And those who refuse to change their thinking to match this new landscape will experience untold and unnecessary hardship.

Long time listeners to this program are familiar with these principles in relation to helping LDS singles find joy regardless of their circumstances.  For example, many singles who leave YSA land without getting married experience a difficult transition into SA world.  Some don’t even transition; they go inactive or leave the Church altogether.

That’s because their YSA thinking doesn’t match the new SA landscape, and they simply respond to their biological hardwiring which encourages them to maintain the status quo.  They keep thinking the same way, and that just leads them to leave.  But if these singes would change their thinking to match their new landscape, they could experience a greater amount of joy despite their circumstances.

We can begin to capture much of the joy we’ve been missing by owning our lives and looking for the opportunity amidst the obstacle.  I demonstrated that attitude this morning in my Daily Dose video.  Is it cheesy and silly?  Absolutely.  And that’s OK, because I refused to let my current situation keep me from having a spot of fun.

You too can refuse to allow your current situation to keep you from experiencing joy amidst adversity.  You can still celebrate April Fools Day.  Will it be the same?  Of course not.  But joy is still joy, no matter how it comes.

Presented with this knowledge, each of us now confronts this question: Will you own your life?  Or put another way, will you take responsibility for the results you experience in your life?  Will you refuse to allow your circumstances to dictate your attitude and perspective?

I choose to own my life.  My circumstances will be what they will be, but they will never dictate my choices.  I choose to live with intention, not on autopilot.  I choose to produce more than I consume, not just consume.  I choose phenomenal, not mediocre.  I choose life, not death.  I choose faith, not fear.  I choose hope, not despair.  I choose love, not hate.  I choose joy, not sorrow.

And so can you.  Decide today you will own your life.  Decide that no matter your circumstances you will be always up for fun.  Then follow through with that decision by taking advantage however you can of the moments for fun that come your way.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

That said, I’m not going to approach exercise in the usual way.  Instead, I’ll share how you can improve an exercise habit whether you exercise not at all or everyday.  All you need to do is just one more.

First, let me start where everyone else starts — a recognition of our highly litigious society.  Please consult with a competent physician before starting any exercise program.

That said, before you see a doctor, you need to establish some motivation.  Without the proper motivation, you simply won’t follow any program long enough to integrate it permanently into your life.  So get crystal clear on why you’re going to do this.  Your reason must be compelling enough to push past the resistance to change you’ll surely encounter.

And there’s no one-size-fits-all reason.  Perhaps you hate having your weight limit you.  It’s harder to bend over and stand up when you’re fat.  Or perhaps you need to keep up with some younger folks in your life. That would currently help me as an Aaronic Priesthood advisor.

Or maybe you need to shed those pounds so you can become more agreeable and progress in your dating journey.  Argue with it all you want, but no rightness in any argument will diminish the truth that many singles have, do, and will continue to assess potential dating partners by physical appearance.

Yes, I know how it sounds, but it’s no less true.  And if you don’t become more agreeable by losing the extra weight, the only way to progress in your dating journey is to find someone who’s satisfied with less.  Those people are very few and far between, so relying on that proportion seriously decreases your probability of success.

As I point out in my new book, you increase your probability of success by opening yourself to more possibilities for the successful outcome to occur.  The best way to do that is to raise what you offer to a whole new level so that enough people find you agreeable.  The more people that find you agreeable, the more possibilities you create for your successful outcome to occur, and thus the more probable your success will be.

Now, before you despair at having to exercise to progress in your dating journey, there’s a simple way to get started.  And it’ll improve your performance wherever you are on the fitness spectrum.  It’s called the One More Principle.

All you need to do is just one more than you did before.  So if you’re just starting out, what you did “before” is zero.  All you need to do today is one — one sit-up, one push-up, one whatever.  When it’s time to do that exercise again, do just one more, which is two.  And so on.

It’s amazingly simple, and yet, if you stay with it, you’ll be amazed at how easily you can ease yourself into an exercise habit you previously didn’t have.  And here’s the real beauty: If you practice an exercise habit long enough, you’ll actually start wanting to exercise.

Crazy, yes, but it’s true.  I’ve personally experienced it.  What before made me cower away in terror (What? I have to run how far?) became something that filled me with great anticipation (Oh yeah!  I get to run that far!).

And anyone can do one more.  If you haven’t exercised in a while (or ever), you can do one push-up.  If last time you did ten push-ups, now you can do eleven.  If last time you did 100, this time you can do 101.  By doing just one more, anyone can progress.

And you can adopt the One More Principle in not just exercise but everything.  Last time you wrote 2573 words, so this time you write 2574 words.  Last week you went meatless for two meals, so this week you eat three meatless meals.  When you do just one more as a lifestyle, you’ll find yourself and your life substantially improved.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

Many don’t believe that.  They assume life is the collection of circumstances outside their control.  But that’s why many people aren’t all that happy.

Your focus determines your reality.  Because you can choose what you focus on, you can choose your reality.  True, most don’t choose their circumstances, but that never stopped anyone who lived joyfully from living joyfully.  These people lived their best life because they made different choices with the same circumstances.

Some of us should take a lesson from a farmer.  Farmers don’t choose their circumstances.  They have the soil and the water that’s available.  Their seeds for planting are whatever they are.  The weather will be whatever it will be.  So much of what’s needful for the harvest is outside their control.  Yet with hard work in what they can control, they produce bountiful harvests year after year.

In like manner, we haven’t chosen many of the circumstances of our lives.  What we have is what we have, and it’s often all we have.  But if we work hard in what we can control, we can produce harvests of truly joyful living year after year.  This is what I call your best life.

I can hear many of you now.  What exactly can we control?  Here’s my answer: Standards, attitude, approach.

It starts with standards.  You’ll never design your best life without knowing what’s acceptable and what’s not.  The best delineations between what you’ll tolerate and what you won’t are made after partnering with the Lord to get good with you.  Once you know and accept who you really are and what your personal ministry should be, you can best draw that line between what you’ll accept in your life and what you won’t.  The more clear you make that definition, the more able you’ll be to live the life you intend.

Once you know exactly what you want, you need resolve to do whatever it takes to get it (within the realm of covenant living, of course).  You need the attitude of the victor and not the victim.  That attitude will fire your imagination to design a life you’ll truly enjoy and pull you through to that fulfilling end when the road there gets tough.

Of course, attitude without action will never bring you achievement.  To live a life you design, you must take action.  Working smart as well as working hard requires attention to one’s approach.  Too often we think what we seek must come in one specific way.  But much of life is not path-dependent; there’s often more than one road leading to the top of the mountain.  And sometimes the road that’s best for us to travel is not the one we expect.

With these three elements in place — standards, attitude, and approach — you can decide what you want your life to be and feel the joy that comes from working to make it happen.  Usually that means taking small steps every single day to inch yourself closer to the life you dream.

That’s where many of us fall short.  We don’t do the little things everyday that can near us to our best life.  Then, after a larger block of time has passed, we can’t help but notice we’re left standing on the pier because our ship has long since sailed.

That’s where being clear about your standards, attitude, and approach holds its best value.  Once you’re crystal clear on those elements, what you need to do everyday will be obvious.  Performing those seemingly small and insignificant actions everyday will collect to create the very significant life you design for yourself.

So what are you waiting for?  Get clear, and then get going. None of this happens overnight.  But as you move closer to the life you design for yourself, you’ll feel the joy that comes from making progress.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.