Giving Thanks
How many times in our lives are we blessed, and then we neglect to offer a prayer of thanks? Sometimes I think I take the "little things" for granted. I simply don't realize how many blessings I am receiving, and that those blessings are a direct gift from my Father in Heaven. Today while studying my scriptures, I read about how King Benjamin admonished his people to offer thanks. He explained to the people exactly why and how they should he grateful. He said to offer thanks "to the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, and who had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and had appointed just men to be their king, who had established peace in the land of Zarahemla, and who had taught them to keep the commandments of God" (Mosiah 2:4). I need King Benjamin to give me a list of what I should be thankful for, because I know I unknowingly neglect to offer thanks. King Benjamin told his people to be thankful for their leaders. Do I pray for my leaders? Not only our country leaders, but our church leaders as well? Do I remember to be thankful for my bishop, my prophet, or my Sunday School teachers? Am I thankful in the little things as well--like my son's triumph's in reading, or my daughters' happy attitude? There is something to be said for a thankful heart. I truly believe when we see the blessings in our daily lives, we also see the hand of God, and by so doing--our hearts are turned to Him, and we walk in His way.Last week our air-conditioning unit would not work. While the outside temperatures were reaching 108 degrees, our house was trying to compete. Sometimes being outside was more comfortable than being inside. The house was so hot that simply sitting would cause me to break out in a sweat. The air was stifling, and thick. For five days, we were in misery. During the moments of extreme heat, my kids would grab ice from the freezer and coat their faces and mouths with it. As we suffered through those days without air conditioning, I kept thinking of how grateful I was for air-conditioning, and how grateful I would be when air-conditioning worked again. Air-conditioning was something I had neglected to be grateful for in the past--it simply hadn't ever occurred to me to express my gratitude for my comfort. However, through this experience my eye's have been opened to just how many blessings I am granted on a daily basis. I am grateful for this lesson on gratitude. I am humbled at my previous lack of gratitude. This experience has caused me to wonder--what else am I forgetting to offer thanks?
As King Benjamin continued his address to his people he said, "I say unto you, my brethren, that 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 and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another--I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land..."
OH, HOW I AM BLESSED!!! I need to offer more prayers of thanksgiving. I need to pray for a thankful heart. It causes me to reflect on the scriptures when Jesus healed the ten lepers and only one of them expressed gratitude. In Luke 17:12- 17 states, "And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the other nine?" How many times am I like the other nine? How many times am I like the one? I truly want to be the kind of person who is grateful for all my blessings.
President Thomas S. Monson said, "Like the leprosy of yesteryear are the plagues of today. They linger; they debilitate; they destroy. They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries. We know them as selfishness, greed, indulgence, cruelty, and crime, to identify but a few. Surfeited with their poison, we tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and, slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life.
A popular refrain from the 1940s captured the thought:
Accentuate the positive;
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative;
Don't mess with Mr. In-between.
Good advice then. Good advice now.
This is 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" (Thomas. S. Monson, "An Attitude of Gratitude," Ensign, May 1992, 54).
At another time, President Thomas S. Monson shared a story about finding joy in the journey. He told a story about Borghild Dahl. He said, "she was born in Minnesota in 1890 of Nowegian parents and from her early years suffered severely impaired vision. She had a tremendous desire to participate in everyday life despite her handicap and, through sheer determination, succeeded in nearly everything she undertook. Against the advice of educators, who felt her handicap was too great, she attended college, receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She later studied at Columbia University and the University of Olso. She eventually became the principal of eight schools in western Minnesota and North Dakota.
She wrote the following in one of her 17 books she authored: 'I had only one eye, and it was so covered with dense scars that I had to do all my seeing through one small opening in the left of the eye. I could see a book only by holding it up close to my face and by straining my one eye as hard as I could to the left.'
Miraculously, in 1943--when she was over 50 years old--a revolutionary procedure was developed which finally restored to her much of the sight she had been without for so long. A new and exciting world opened up before her. She took great pleasure in the small things most of us take for granted, such as watching a bird in flight, noticing the light reflected in the bubbles of her dishwater, or observing the phases of the moon each night. She closed one of her books with these words: 'Dear ... Father in heaven, I thank Thee. I thank Thee.'
Borghild Dahl both before and after her sight was restored, was filled with gratitude for her blessings.
In 1982, two years before she died, at the age of 92 her last book was published. It title: "Happy All My Life". Her attitude of thankfulness enabled her to appreciate her blessings and to live life a full and rich life despite her challenges" (Thomas S. Monson, Finding Joy in the Journey," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 84-87).
I have a dear friend who finds joy in the "little things", and I am grateful for her example. As we run, she shouts out with excitement every time we see a bird, a duck, or any kind of wildlife. She takes pictures of the baby birds hatching by her house. She sees the beauty of God's hand in her surroundings. As I have watched her example, I too--have found myself excited for the beauty around me. I am grateful that she has opened my eyes. I am so blessed to have friends who teach me by their example. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband who cares for me. I am so blessed to have three beautiful, kind-hearted children. I am so blessed to watch them grow, and to be their mother. I am so blessed to have an extended family who also cares and uplifts my family. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with my family--immediate and extended. I am so blessed to have summer breaks. I am so blessed to have air-conditioning...
