This is a post I would have normally reserved for my family blog, but now that I’ve combined the two, I am going to go ahead and share this here.
In the church I attend (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), there are no paid clergy. Rather than having a pastor or minister preach a sermon each week, members of our congregation are asked to speak on assigned topics throughout the year. While speaking in public can be a bit nerve-wracking, I actually love the opportunity to prepare a 10-minute talk. I always discover such a wealth of scriptures and quotes and feel that I learn so much more than I could ever convey to the congregation in 10 minutes! I even invited some good friends of ours who attend a local Catholic church to come and hear me speak today and I so appreciated having them come! I can’t wait to visit their church and hear my friend sing!
I know this post is long, but I wasn’t sure what to excerpt from my talk, so here it is in it’s entirety:
A few months ago, I came across a quote from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and I find myself returning to it again and again. In his Ensign talk “An Attitude of Gratitude,” the prophet said:
“This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help.
We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”
We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”
Reflecting on these words has brought me such peace and gratitude for living prophets and apostles who bring messages of hope in challenging times. Sometimes we look around us and it’s difficult to see past the negative: we see violence, sin, permissiveness, unkindness, and pain. In addition to feeling discouraged by our surroundings, we may be struggling with something personal: guilt, anger, resentment, fear, or pain of our own. We might fret about our children and the future, not to mention our worries about the here and now. While stuck in this mire of negativity, it can be difficult to move forward in faith, rather than fear.
While there are many legitimate reasons to feel trepidation in this world, President Gordon B Hinckley has advised, “Let us recognize that fear comes not of God, but rather that this gnawing, destructive element comes from the adversary of truth and righteousness. Fear is the antithesis of faith. It is corrosive in its effects, even deadly to us.”
Elder Faust has also counciled that “gratitude is an expression of faith” and is a “saving principle.” The children of God have continuously been commanded to give thanks throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Apostle Paul wrote, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:18). The prophet Alma taught, “When thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God” (Alma 37:37).
So developing gratitude is more than a nice suggestion – it’s actually a commandment from God. Heavenly Father provides commandments for his children so they can have a path to happiness in this life and in the life to come. The commandment to be grateful is easily passed over as too simple to truly impact our lives, but it can alter our perspective, enhance our testimony, increase our faith, and help us find happiness in each day.
Elder Wirthlin then asked, “What is the difference between them? What are the characteristics that differentiate the happy from the miserable? Is there something that unhappy people can do to be happier? I believe there is.”
He then explained that there is a virtue that “the Roman orator Cicero claimed was “not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others”” He said, “It is a quality I have found in every happy person I know. It is a quality that instantly makes a person more likable and more at peace. Where there is an abundance of this virtue, there is happiness. Where there is an absence of this virtue, there is often sadness, resentment, and futility. The virtue I am speaking of is gratitude.”
Reading that gratitude is the greatest of all virtues was truly eye opening for me. I don’t know of anyone who does not want more peace, happiness, and purpose in their life. It’s incredible to know that something as simple and joyful as expressing true thanks can have such a lasting impact on our character.
So how do we go about developing the virtue of gratitude, especially if we are struggling? I would like to suggest 3 ways we can incorporate an attitude of gratitude more fully in our lives.
First: Look for the little things
It can be easy to take the beauties of life for granted. Elder Wirthlin explained that “Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual. However, the opposite is true as well: The more often we see the things around us—even the beautiful and wonderful things—the more they become invisible to us.”
Have you ever had one of those days where you felt as though there simply wasn’t enough time to accomplish all that needed to be done? Your “to do” list felt impossible and you woke up worrying about how you’d accomplish it all. As you rushed to get every task completed, each obstacle felt enormous and every delay frustrating. By the end of the day, you found that you’d somehow marked everything off your list, but you were left feeling frustrated and unsatisfied.
On days like this, I often search for the source of my frustration. Without fail, I look around me and realize that all of the “important” things I’d spent my day focusing on really weren’t that important at all. Instead of truly enjoying a walk in the sun, I worried about the next task ahead. While eating lunch with my daughter, I vaguely responded to her chatter, but my mind was elsewhere. As I prepared dinner, I saw it as drudgery, instead of enjoying the opportunity to experiment with a new recipe.
In contrast, when I prioritize my day so that I enjoy the little things, I feel at peace when I retire at night. The days I savor a tart, juicy apple, take time to dance with my daughter, and appreciate the sweet smile of my son, I am joyful. I might still be tired, and I might not accomplish everything on my “to do” list, but I am grateful for my day.
Elder Wirthlin explained this phenomenon. He said, “Gratitude turns a meal into a feast and drudgery into delight. It softens our grief and heightens our pleasure. It turns the simple and common into the memorable and transcendent. It forges bonds of love and fosters loyalty and admiration.”
Second: Pray with gratitude for all things
“Live in thanksgiving daily,” said Amulek, “for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.”
As we start to notice the little things in our lives, we’ll discover that we have so much to thank our Heavenly Father for. As we kneel to pray each night, we’ll find our prayers overflowing with thanksgiving.
Astronaut Gordon Cooper, while orbiting the earth over 40 years ago, offered a wonderful example of showing gratitude for the bounty Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us. He said, “Father, thank You, especially for letting me fly this flight. Thank You for the privilege of being able to be in this position: to be up in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that You have created.” 7
We are thankful for blessings we cannot measure, for gifts we cannot appraise, “for books, music, art, and for the great inventions which make these blessings available[;] … for the laughter of little children[;] … for the … means for relieving human suffering … and increasing … the enjoyment of life[;] … for everything good and uplifting.”
As we strive to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving, it is a wonderful beginning to focus our efforts on the joyful blessings in our life: the healthy baby, the bonus we receive at the end of a difficult month, the beauty of the fall leaves, and the sweet answer to a fervent prayer. However, in Doctrine and Covenants 59:7, a book of modern revelation, we are admonished to “thank the Lord they God in all things.”
Sister Bonnie D. Parkin of the General Relief Society Presidency, asked this compelling question, “When was the last time you thanked the Lord for a trial or tribulation? Adversity compels us to go to our knees; does gratitude for adversity do that as well?” I can testify from personal experience that expressing thanks in the midst of tribulation can truly alter your life. As I’ve expressed gratitude amidst disappointment, in spite of pain, and for my struggles, I’ve found greater peace, comfort, and perspective. Sometimes this gratitude does not wholly come in the moment, but develops more fully with the passing of time.
I believe that an eternal perspective is one of the greatest gifts of the restored gospel. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life. We are sent here to be tested. There must be opposition in all things. We are meant to learn and grow through that opposition, through meeting our challenges, and through teaching others to do the same.”
3rd Serve Others
The most significant way we can show gratitude for our savior Jesus Christ, is by blessing the lives of those around us through service. When we follow the savior’s example of charity and service, we give Him the divine gift of gratitude.
In Mosiah 2:20-21, King Benjamin taught his people, ““If you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice. …
“… If ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:20–21).
King Benjamin also taught his people how to render their thanks to God in Mosiah 2:17 with the words “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God”
Each time we serve one another in small and simple ways, we show gratitude to our Heavenly Father. When we reach out to someone who is lonely, when we tell a loved one how much they mean to us, and when we donate our time to worthy causes, we are serving our God.
We can also serve others by expressing our sincere thanks for their friendship, service, and kind deeds. President Monson, encouraged us to “Think to thank. In these three words is the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness”
In recommending these three courses of action, I do not mean to suggest that they are easy or that I have fully incorporated them into my own life. This is certainly a virtue I am working to develop each day. But I can tell you that the more I’ve worked to cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving in my life, the more joyful I’ve become. I have experienced the immense grief that comes with the loss of a loved one, known the bitter pangs of disappointment, worked my way out of a pit of depression, and wondered if the good in the world truly outweighed the despair. But I can testify that appreciating the little things, seeing the hand of God in my surroundings, and seeking the good around me has truly blessed my life.
President Joseph F. Smith proclaimed: “The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil.” And I know this to be true. Awhile back, I woke up early one Monday morning overwhelmed with gratitude for my life. I felt the need to record my thanks, so I turned to my blog and wrote a post entitled “Joy.”(See this post here:
I recall writing this post and feeling overwhelmed by the immense blessings in my life. This simple list included only a small portion of the myriad of things I had to be grateful for. Expressing my thanks for all of the wonderful things in my life changed my entire attitude that day, lightened my mood, and heightened my eternal perspective.
References Available at www.lds.org
Thomas S. Monson, “An Attitude of Gratitude,” Ensign, May 1992, 54 /9
Gordon B. Hinckley, “‘God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear’,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 2
James E. Faust, “Gratitude As a Saving Principle,” Ensign, Dec 1996, 2
Joseph B. Wirthlin, “‘Live in Thanksgiving Daily’,” Ensign, Sep 2001, 6
Congressional Record, 88th Cong., 1st sess., 1963, 109, pt. 7:9156.
Bonnie D. Parkin, “Gratitude: A Path to Happiness,” Ensign, May 2007, 34–36
(Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 263)
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