"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World").

Our kind and loving Father in Heaven knows — completely and without exception — the only authentic course to happiness. If we, then, do the things He has invited us to do, we will be on that path to happiness.

If the only authentic course to happiness requires following the Savior, then the only practical path to family happiness requires, within the walls of our own homes, the consistent application of those principles.

"Happiness," said the Prophet Joseph Smith, "is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected by Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 255–56).

Elder David A. Bednar, speaking in the just-completed October general conference, reiterated that doctrine when he suggested three ways that we can be more diligent and concerned in our homes.

Express love and show it

Bear testimony and live it

Be consistent

If one were to ask Ricardo if his childhood home had been happy, he'd reply that it was practically perfect. Without question, his childhood was happy — because, above all else and no matter what, he knew Mom and Dad loved him. Ricardo might admit that, with age, memories of childhood events have faded. But time can't erode the overwhelming feelings of Ricardo's heart — because Mom and Dad consistently showed their deep love for him.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy during the annual expedition to purchase the family Christmas tree. Other family members didn't particularly enjoy the cold-night trek to the local tree lot. But Ricardo and his mother did. They looked. They laughed. They talked. They found the "perfect" tree — and had a "perfectly happy" evening together.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy on any of his frequent outings to a nearby college, where his father worked on the sideline crew for home football games. Ricardo loved occasionally standing on the sidelines — and maybe even getting an autograph — among the oh-so-tall football players.

But what he really loved was stopping on the way home — just Ricardo and his dad — for a 25-cent hot dog. "If we wait until after the game (rather than buying the over-priced dogs from the vendors at the game)," his dad told him, "we'll get a lot more hot dog for our money."

Eating the hot dogs made Ricardo happy. Eating the hot dogs with his dad — because he knew Dad wanted to be with him — made Ricardo really happy.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy when his family of six squeezed into a compact car for a long journey to a much-anticipated vacation spot. Ricardo was pretty sure his dad, who had worked hard to make the vacation possible, was happy. But, at the time, he wasn't sure if he was happy being so cramped in that back seat.

But Ricardo now knows: He was happy. While that family togetherness might have been a little too together, the journey brought sweet and lingering memories.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy when he was 16 years old and his mother said he couldn't "cruise" with his friends on New Year's Eve. Well, maybe you shouldn't ask that of Ricardo — because he'll tell you he wasn't happy.

But from the hindsight afforded by many years, Ricardo will now tell you that he is very happy about being unhappy. He now, of course, recognizes his mother's love and wisdom. And he's pretty sure that he has suffered no lasting ill effects for having to stay home that night.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy when returning home ("by midnight") from an evening out — that that same sweet mother was always awake to greet him. He was happy — then and now. He loved that brief debrief with Mom before heading off to bed.

Ask Ricardo if he was happy smelling — but not yet eating — Sunday dinner as they waited for Ricardo's father to return from a day of Church service. OK, Ricardo liked the eating more than the smelling, but Mom somehow seemed to make the wait less long, and Dad somehow seemed to arrive home in good spirits.

Looking back, Ricardo now realizes that his mother's patient waiting and his father's upbeat attitude didn't just happen. Mom and Dad made it so. Mom and Dad worked hard to bring happiness into their home.

Ask Ricardo if, when Ricardo found a young woman who made him as happy as his mother had made his father, Mom and Dad continued their work to create happiness in the now-extended family. Ricardo's wife similarly remembers those "waits" for Sunday dinner — and she, too, was happy.

The path to happiness — in mortality and in eternity — is really quite simple. "Simple," however, doesn't necessarily mean "easy." But difficult or easy, the path is well marked and absolutely worth every step.