A prayerful life is the key to possessing gratitude (Thomas
S. Monson, "The Divine Gift of Gratitude", General Conference, April
2012).
A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to
our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring
into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly
learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend
to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it.
Someone has said that ‘feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping
a present and not giving it ( William Arthur Ward, in Allen Klein, comp., Change
Your Life! (2010) and (Thomas S. Monson, "The Divine Gift of
Gratitude", General Conference, April 2012).
Giving thanks means...a fullness of thanks, which is the
outward expression of a grateful feeling. Gratitude is the feeling itself. That
is in the heart. Thankfulness is measured by the number of words; gratitude is
measured by the nature of our actions. Thankfulness is the beginning of
gratitude; gratitude the completion of thankfulness (David O.
McKay, General Conference, October 1955, pp. 4-9).
Your
heart is an incredible pump.17 It has four delicate valves that control the
direction of blood flow. These valves open and close more than 100,000 times a
day—36 million times a year. Yet, unless altered by disease, they are able to
withstand such stress almost indefinitely.
Think
of the body’s defense system. To protect it from harm, it perceives pain. In
response to infection, it generates antibodies. The skin provides protection.
It warns against injury that excessive heat or cold might cause.
The
body renews its own outdated cells and regulates the levels of its own vital
ingredients. The body heals its cuts, bruises, and broken bones. Its capacity
for reproduction is another sacred gift from God.
Be
we reminded that a perfect body is not required to achieve one’s divine
destiny. In fact, some of the sweetest spirits are housed in frail or imperfect
bodies. Great spiritual strength is often developed by people with physical
challenges, precisely because they are so challenged.
Anyone
who studies the workings of the human body has surely “seen God moving in his
majesty and power.”18 Because the body is governed by divine law, any healing
comes by obedience to the law upon which that blessing is predicated.19
Yet
some people erroneously think that these marvelous physical attributes happened
by chance or resulted from a big bang somewhere. Ask yourself, “Could an
explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary?” The likelihood is most
remote. But if so, it could never heal its own torn pages or reproduce its own
newer editions!
If the body’s
capacity for normal function, defense, repair, regulation, and regeneration
were to prevail without limit, life here would continue in perpetuity. Yes, we
would be stranded here on earth! Mercifully for us, our Creator provided for
aging and other processes that would ultimately result in our physical death.
Death, like birth, is part of life. Scripture teaches that “it was not
expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would
destroy the great plan of happiness.”20 To return to God through the gateway we
call death is a joy for those who love Him and are prepared to meet Him.21
Eventually the time will come when each “spirit and … body shall be reunited
again in … perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper
frame,”22 never to be separated again. For these physical gifts, thanks be to
God! (Russell M. Nelson, “Thanks be to God,” General Conference Apr. 2012)
It seems to me that our gratitude (or lack of it) greatly affects our decisions. If we are grateful, we’ll see the opportunity to choose as a gift. If we recognize God in our life, we’ll include him in our decisions. If we have faith, we will have the courage to choose and do it in a timely manner. If we are prayerful and obedient, we will be able to choose with wisdom. If we feel responsible to be good stewards for the gifts we receive, we’ll know we must be accountable for the choices we make. If we want to continue to have the power to choose, we will not let others or circumstances control our choices.
ReplyDeleteGratitude is the key to recognizing the Lord’s influence in my life. There is nothing good in my life that hasn’t come from the Lord. I have made many good choices, but the wonderful results of those choices are rich blessings from above. Even my challenges and the consequences of my poor choices are due to the Eternal Plan that was set up before the world was. I cannot truly claim anything of myself, I can only rely on what the Lord grants me to use here upon the earth. The greatest gift He has given is His Son and a “chance for repentance” as Mormon wishes upon the Nephites. Everyday I pray for to be grateful so that I can recognize the Lord in all things.
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