Jake and I are sooo excited for Thanksgiving- Jake for the food (I haven't cooked in a week- our oven doesn't work) and me for the break, seeing Savior of the World, as well as being with family and friends.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year, but I often wonder how many of us truly take the time to sit down and consider our blessings. I love a tradition that my family has had growing up of always going around the table and saying what we are grateful for each Thanksgiving. We do something similar on someone's birthday-we tell them something we love about them. This tradition has always made me grateful for others in my life and for what I have, although it is definitely something I need to improve upon.
I love what President Gordon B. Hinckley said on gratitude:
"Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty. I have driven through thousands of acres of blackened land scourged by a fire evidently set by a careless smoker whose only concern had been the selfish pleasure gained from a cigarette.
Where there is appreciation, there is courtesy, there is concern for the rights and property of others. Without appreciation, there is arrogance and evil.
Where there is gratitude, there is humility, as opposed to pride.
How magnificently we are blessed! How thankful we ought to be!
Cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving for the blessing of life and for the marvelous gifts and privileges each of us enjoy. The Lord has said that the meek shall inherit the earth. (See
Matthew 5:5) I cannot escape the interpretation that meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgment of a greater power beyond oneself, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of his commandments. This is the beginning of wisdom. Walk with gratitude before him who is the giver of life and every good gift."
I want to be a more grateful person. As we show gratitude for the things we have, we will be more positve people. This is something that I need to improve on, I am not lecturing, but merely reflecting. :)
This year I am grateful for my husband and for the many adventures and learning experiences we have had in our first 6 months of marriage and the many adventures and lessons we have yet to learn. I am thankful for friends and family, good conversations, and good books. I am grateful for absolute truths and correct principles that guide my life. I am thankful for my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, and for all the blessings that I receive from their hands daily.
We made a goal a few weeks ago to do as President Eyring has done and spoke about in October 2007 in Conference, every night after reading in the scriptures we write in our journals how we have seen the Lord's hand in our life, or how we have seen His blessings that day. It has truly made us more grateful for what we have and has helped me to focus more on what is truly important.
I love what he said in that talk, "Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him"
"IT BRINGS ME JOY TO REMEMBER HIM."
