Active, Aware, and Joyful

What does it mean to be alive?

At the end of my post two days ago, almost as an afterthought, I identified three characteristics of livingness. All three are clearly identified in Jacob’s discussion of physical and spiritual death:

1. When we are alive, we are active. We have energy. We are able to “live and move and do according to [our] own will” (Mosiah 2:21). In contrast, dead things are stagnant. They are acted upon, but they do not act for themselves. (See 2 Nephi 2:14, 16, 2 Nephi 9:4, 7.)
2. When we are alive, we are aware.  We recognize what is going on around us and are able to accurately interpret what we see and hear. A resurrected being, for example, has a “perfect knowledge” (2 Nephi 9:13-14).
3. To be alive is to be able to feel joy. When we enter God’s presence, if we have repented of our sins and been sanctified by Jesus Christ, then our “joy shall be full forever” (2 Nephi 9:18).

You could think of life and death as binary—you’re either alive or you’re not—but that is not the way the Savior talked about it. He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Today, I will turn to the Savior, knowing that He can help me be more alive—more active, more aware, and more joyful.