"If we really try, our home can be a bit of heaven here on earth. The thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the lives we live influence not only the success of our esrthly journey, they also mark the way to our eternal goals." — President Thomas S. Monson

Since happiness is the object and design of mortal existence, and is the result of virtuous living as the Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "Why then," asked President Thomas S. Monson, "are there so many unhappy people?

"Happiness does not consist of a glut of luxury, the world's idea of a 'good time.' Nor must we search for it in faraway places with strange-sounding names.

"Happiness," he emphasized, "is found at home."

As the featured speaker in the Missionary Satellite Broadcast held Feb. 20, President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, highlighted the hallmarks of a happy home. The 30-minute fireside was broadcast on the Church satellite system to stake centers in North America, as well as at selected sites throughout Latin America for the first time. The broadcast was also received in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Bahamas. Church sites in Western Europe, Scandinavia, and British Isles were to receive the broadcast a few days later.

Stakes were encouraged to organize open houses in conjunction with the broadcast. Many stakes viewed the broadcast when it aired, while other stakes recorded the broadcast to be replayed in the coming weeks.

"All of us remember the home of our childhood," President Monson said. "Interestingly, our thoughts do not dwell on whether the house was large or small, the neighborhood fashionable or downtrodden.

"Rather, we delight in the experiences we shared as a family. The home is the laboratory of our lives, and what we learn there largely determines what we do when we leave there," he said.

"Slowly but surely we face the truth that we are responsible for the home we build. If we really try, our home can be a bit of heaven here on earth. The thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the lives we live influence not only the success of our earthly journey; they also mark the way to our eternal goals."

Happy homes come in a variety of appearances, he said. Some feature large families, others consist of a single parent, while others have but one occupant.

"There are, however, identifying features which are to be found in a happy home, whatever the number or description of its family members," he said.

"I refer to these as 'Hallmarks of a Happy Home.' They consist of:

• A pattern of prayer.

• A library of learning.

• A legacy of love.

• A treasury of testimony.

A pattern of prayer

"So universal is its application, so beneficial its result, that prayer qualifies as the No. 1 hallmark of a happy home," President Monson explained. "As parents listen to the prayer of a child they, too, draw close to God.

"Family prayer is the greatest deterrent to sin, and thence the most beneficent provider of joy and happiness. . . . If any of us has been slow to hearken to the counsel to pray always, there is no finer hour to begin than now. Those who feel that prayer might denote a physical weakness should remember that a man never stands taller than when he is upon his knees."

President Monson explained a formula for happiness given to him and his wife, Frances, when they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. The counsel given by the officiator was to pray together, as husband and wife, each night on bended knee — each taking a turn to pray aloud.

" 'You simply can't pray together and retain any but the best of feelings toward one another,' " President Monson said, quoting the officiator.

"Prayer is the passport to spiritual power," he emphasized.

A library of learning

The second hallmark of a happy home is discovered when home is a library of learning.

"Whether we are preparing to establish our own family or simply considering how to bring heaven closer to our present home, we can learn from the Lord. He is the master architect."

President Monson recounted a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith in which the Lord directed: "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." (Doctrine & Covenants 88:119.)

An essential part of learning, President Monson continued, will be good books. "Reading is one of the true pleasures of life. . . . The Lord counseled, 'Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.' (Doctrine & Covenants 88:118.)

"As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure," he said.

A legacy of love

"We must ever be committed to the success of our marriage," President Monson affirmed. "Seemingly little lessons of love are observed by children as they silently absorb the examples of their parents."

He told how his father, "a printer [who] worked long and hard practically every day of his life," would spend the Sabbath bringing "cheer" into the lives of elderly family members, when "he would have enjoyed just being at home."

After recounting an experience in which his father took an uncle, who was severely crippled with arthritis, for a short drive, President Monson remarked, "Father never read to me from the Bible about the good Samaritan. Rather, he took me with him and Uncle Elias in that old 1928 Oldsmobile along the road to Jericho."

A treasury of testimony

" 'A true Mormon home is one in which if Christ should chance to enter, He would be pleased to linger and to rest,' " President Monson said, quoting President David O. McKay.

"What are we doing to ensure that our homes meet this description?" President Monson asked. "It isn't enough for parents alone to have strong testimonies. Children can ride only so long on the coattails of a parent's conviction.

"A love for the Savior, a reverence for His name and genuine respect one for another will provide a fertile seedbed for a testimony to grow.

"Learning the gospel, bearing a testimony, leading a family are rarely, if ever, simple processes. Life's journey is characterized by bumps in the road, swells in the sea — even the turbulence of our times.

"Let us determine, whatever our circumstance, to make of our houses happy homes," he said in conclusion.

Photos courtesy LDS Church.