If you've known me for any amount of time, there's a pretty good chance you've heard me use the word "glorious." Somebody asks how I'm doing, and for whatever reason, my answer is almost always the same. "Glorious!" Sometimes I say it because I'm having a great day, and other times I'm probably saying it because the day has been an absolute disaster and I find the whole thing a little funny.
A good buddy of mine pointed out a while back that I say it all the time. I hadn't really thought much about it until he mentioned it, but he was right. Apparently, somewhere along the way, I decided that "good," "fine," and "alright" were no longer sufficient descriptions of my condition. I had to go straight to glorious. Which is a pretty ridiculous word to throw around when you've spent half your morning dealing with problems you probably helped create.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there might actually be something meaningful behind that silly little habit.
I wrote this song about eight months ago, and it's become one of the favorites around our house. My family has listened to it quite a bit, and I've loved watching how much fun they've had with it. There's something about the energy of the song that makes me smile. Recently, I started wondering what it would sound like if somebody actually performed it live. A real band, a crowd of people, and a singer who could bring some personality and humor into it. I would love to find an artist someday who wants to give that a shot. I think it would be hilarious to hear a whole audience responding to somebody asking how they're doing with a big, enthusiastic "GLORIOUS!"
And maybe that's part of what I love about the idea. How often do we actually give ourselves permission to feel that way?
I've spent plenty of my life worrying about things that, looking back, probably deserved about five minutes of my attention. I've had mornings where I was frustrated before I even got out of bed because I was already thinking about everything that needed to get done, everything that hadn't worked out, or somebody who hadn't done something the way I thought they should. I'm pretty talented at creating expectations for how things ought to go and then getting irritated when the rest of the world fails to consult me about those expectations.
And yet, somebody can ask how I'm doing in the middle of all that, and out comes "Glorious!"
I wonder sometimes if I've accidentally been reminding myself of something I needed to hear.
In the Book of Mormon, Lehi teaches that "men are, that they might have joy." I've always loved that scripture. Think about what that means for a minute. Heavenly Father created us with the capacity and the purpose to experience joy. He knew exactly what mortality would involve. He knew we would struggle, make mistakes, disappoint ourselves, and occasionally behave like complete idiots. And still, joy was part of His plan for us.
That makes me smile because I really do believe Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. I have a hard time believing He watches some of the things I do without occasionally shaking His head a little. I certainly give Him enough material.
But I also believe He loves seeing His children happy. I believe He wants us to recognize the good things He's placed in our lives and enjoy them. I've wondered how many perfectly good moments I've missed because I was so busy thinking about something that went wrong an hour earlier or worrying about something that might go wrong tomorrow.
There's another scripture that has given this song a little more meaning for me. In John 17, Jesus Christ is praying to His Father, and He says, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them." I've thought a lot about that. Christ speaks of sharing the glory He received from the Father with those who follow Him. He wants us to be with Him, to know Him, and to experience the joy and unity that come through Him.
So when I say I'm feeling glorious, I think there's something beautiful about recognizing whose glory I'm actually enjoying.
All glory belongs to our Heavenly Father. Every good thing I have, every opportunity to repent and try again, every blessing that has come through Jesus Christ, points back to Him. I get to live a life where His goodness is constantly reaching me, even on days when I'm too distracted to recognize it.
And that is a pretty glorious arrangement, if you ask me.
I love the way Nephi says it in 2 Nephi 25:26: "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ." I've been thinking about that word rejoice. There's a happiness in it. An invitation to celebrate what the Savior has done for us. I think sometimes I get so caught up in trying to be a better disciple that I forget to enjoy the extraordinary blessing of actually being one.
I've also learned that some of the greatest blessings in my life have come during periods when I was struggling. There have been times when I felt completely overwhelmed, when I was worried about my family or our future, and when I was doing my best to figure out what the Lord wanted me to do next. Looking back, I can see His hand in so many of those experiences. He was patient with me, and He was helping me through things I couldn't have worked through on my own.
Those experiences have given me some pretty good reasons to be happy today.
I still have plenty to figure out. I still get frustrated over dumb things, still spend too much time worrying about tomorrow, and still have days when my attitude could use a little divine intervention. But I know who my Father is. I know who my Savior is. And I believe that because of Jesus Christ, the best things about our existence extend far beyond whatever happened to us today.
So maybe there's something to this whole glorious business after all.
I've also developed a habit of asking people if they're thriving. I love that question because it usually catches people a little off guard. Most of us are used to being asked how we're doing, and we've got our standard answers ready. But thriving? That's a little different. It makes you think about whether you're actually enjoying the life you've been given.
I hope this song makes people laugh a little. I hope they sing along, maybe embarrass themselves a bit, and start using the word glorious in completely inappropriate situations. I would consider that a pretty successful outcome.
But I also hope that somewhere in the middle of enjoying the music, somebody remembers that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them, a Savior who redeemed them, and a reason to experience joy today.
And if someday I get to stand in a room full of people singing this song together, I think that would be an awfully fun thing to experience. Especially if somebody up on that stage asks the crowd how they're doing and everybody shouts back, "GLORIOUS!"
I might even get a little emotional. Which would be embarrassing, considering I started the whole thing as a joke.
Anyway, I hope you're thriving. And the next time somebody asks how you're doing, maybe give glorious a try.
You might find you have more reasons to say it than you realized.
