An Attitude of Gratitude

"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" **President Thomas S. Monson


This is the month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving. Hopefully it is not just a month for eating turkey and stuffing or for welcoming in the holiday season. It can be a month to count our blessings and express gratitude for all that we have been given.

The truth is, we should always live a life filled with gratitude. I know when I focus on all that I have been blessed with in my life I am a lot happier than when I focus on all that I seem to not have. I love the above quote by President Monson. Gratitude truly is a noble virtue. I love that he points out some of the things that are right in the world. When I take the time to really look for the good in the world my soul is filled with joy and hope.

Expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father through prayer opens the windows of heaven to us. When we recognize that He is the giver of all good things in our life we allow ourselves to receive other blessings He may send our way. I believe God wants to bless all of his children in an unconditional way; however some of us do not receive all the benefits of the blessings because we fail to see them for what they really are.

We express gratitude to our Heavenly Father in other ways. When we live our lives with an attitude of gratitude, we appreciate all that we have. We treasure all that we have been given. In doing so, we show gratitude to He who is the giver of all things. When we serve others we show gratitude to the Savior.

Expressing gratitude to others is also important. Too often in life, thank you is left unsaid. I am not talking about saying thank you when a door is held open or teaching our children to say “please” and “thank you” when asking/receiving things. Good manners are important, but I am talking about a deeper sense of gratitude for those around us.

Do we say “thank you” to our spouses enough for all that they do to provide for our families? Do we say “thank you” to our spouse for providing a wonderful home, a place where we want to be? Do we thank our children for bringing joy to our lives? Do we thank our friends for always being there with a listening ear? Do we thank our neighbors for always having a friendly hello? Do we thank primary/school teachers for the influence they have on our children? Do we go out of our way to thank a church teacher for a great lesson they gave?
Thank you can be said in many ways. Sometimes we give gifts as an expression of thanks. I think a note, phone call or hug can say it just as well.

I believe developing an attitude of gratitude will help us find joy in the journey. Our lives will be filled with hope and sunshine instead of gloom and despair. May this Thanksgiving season bring you much happiness as you “count your many blessings”.

Thoughts on Prayer

I have been thinking about prayer over the past few days. Prayer is a wonderful thing, yet it is a somewhat difficult thing for me. Don’t get me wrong. I pray. I like to pray. I know it is one of the greatest blessings God has given us. However, sometimes I find myself falling into “vain repetitions”. I don’t mean to. It is just that my life pretty much stays the same.

I have been thinking of ways to make my prayers more meaningful and less repetitious. I know that the simplest way is to be more grateful. I need to look for the little things throughout the day that are truly blessings from above. I have so much to be grateful for, but sometimes I forgot to thank God for the simple things. I’m sure a gratitude journal would be helpful.

I have also been thinking about prayer because of an email I received recently. A friend of mine, whose family has been facing a difficult trial over the past few years, was hoping for some closure to one aspect of the difficulties they face. As the day approached when that may happen, she sent an email to her friends asking us for our prayers. What impressed me was that she didn’t just ask us to “pray for her family”. She asked us to pray for specific things. She wasn’t asking us to pray everything would turn out the way they have hoped, but that a there would be closure and the family would be strengthened whatever the outcome may be. She asked us to pray for specific things for different members of their family, as they were dealing with the situation each in their own way.

What a great example my friend is to me. We each have specific needs. Heavenly Father wants to help us. Sometimes, I fear my prayers are too general and not specific enough. I think praying for specific things, requires thought beforehand. For instance, we may be faced with an obstacle in our life. When we think it through for ourselves, we may be able to come up with solutions on our own and then go to the Lord for confirmation we are on the right path, as well as strength to do what we need to do. Sometimes, we know the outcome may not be what we had hoped for, do we continue to pray for the outcome we want or do we pray for strength to accept the outcome and move on from there?

Sometimes we are asking for the wrong things and the Lord will let us know…even during the act of prayer. I have an example of this in my life. Last year a family member was diagnosed with an illness and just a couple of weeks later he was preparing to leave this world. He would leave behind a wife and 2 young children. One night I was praying, trying to understand what the family was going through. And the thought came to me that I would not be able to understand the things they was experiencing and would continue to experience. But there was One that could understand, The Savior. I knew my prayers needed to change from being concerned about my own understanding and grief to praying that the young family would recognize and feel the love of the Savior in their life, because He was the only one that could truly understand them. I am grateful for this experience. Not only was my testimony of Jesus Christ strengthened, but my testimony of the power of prayer was also.

Matthew 7:9-11 reads:
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I know the Lord wants to bless us. He will even bless us in the minor things. When my second child was an infant, she was sick with a cold and was getting up multiple times during the night. I was also very sick and not getting enough sleep. One night before I went to bed, I asked Heavenly Father to please let her sleep through the night. I told him how terrible I felt and how much we both needed a good night's rest. That night she slept through the night. It was probably the only night in the first year of life, she slept all night. It was a welcomed blessing. A full nights sleep is a minor thing, but Father knew I needed it and loved me enough to answer my prayer that night.

Elder J. Devin Cornish gave a talk on prayer in the last General Conference. You can find it here. One of my favorite quotes from the talk is:

"Little children, young people, and adults alike, please believe how very much your loving Heavenly Father wants to bless you. But because He will not infringe upon our agency, we must ask for His help. This is generally done through prayer. Prayer is one of the most precious gifts of God to man."

He WANTS to bless us. He blesses us with so much anyway, but there are some things we have to ASK for His help in before He can help us. Some people may wonder why He doesn't just bless us with everything we need. Besides the fact that we have free agency to choose our life path (and consequences) for ourselves is one reason. I believe another reason is that being prayerful humbles us and allows the Spirit to be part of our lives. When we recognize that we have a loving Heavenly Father, who we need and to whom we owe all that we have, we are more likely to seek His guidance in our lives. The act of prayer unites us with Him and allows His Spirit to work more fully in our lives.

Do you have advice on how one can avoid vain repetitions in prayer? What does prayer mean in your life?

The Gospel is like a Jig Saw Puzzle?

The other day I was listening to the Mormon Channel app. If you haven't checked out the Mormon Channel, you really need to check it out. It is wonderful! Check it out here.

Anyway, I was listening to a program and heard something that I found interesting and also to make perfect sense! A member of the Seventy was speaking (sorry I don't remember who) and he talked about how sometimes we may struggle with certain aspects of the gospel. He compared it to a jigsaw puzzle. He said that when he is working on a jigsaw puzzle, he may pick up a piece yet can't seem to find where it fits so he puts it off to the side and works on other pieces. He may pick it up again later and still not find the place it fits so he sets it off to the side again, but eventually as he works on building the puzzle he will find its place in the big picture.

On the outside of a box for a puzzle you can see a picture of what the final puzzle will look like. You begin putting the puzzle together, having faith that all the pieces are there and they will result in the picture.
The gospel is the same. You may have gained a testimony that the gospel is true and know that the end result of following the Savior and making and keeping covenants will lead to Eternal Life. However, sometimes we don't understand all the "pieces" of the gospel or the Church. This can be frustrating. We want to understand it all right now. Just as putting together a jigsaw puzzle requires patience and a little trust that all the pieces are there, living the gospel requires patience and faith.

As we live the gospel, our understanding will be made greater. Sometimes, it takes understanding one principal fully to understand a greater principle.

D&C 98:12 reads:
" For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith."

I think this is a wonderful analogy. When some parts of the gospel are harder for us to understand, sometimes it can cause us to doubt the teachings as a whole. However, I know that the pieces will eventually all come together and we will have a perfect knowledge. That perfect knowledge may not come in this life, but I do know our understanding will be made greater.

What about you? Can you think of times in your life when understanding one aspect of the gospel has helped you to understand another aspect?

Why I Started This Blog.

So those of you who have followed my other blogs already know that I am a terrible, inconsistent blogger. So why then, would I want to start another blog? The short answer is because I want to :)! The truth is, I am a terrible journal keeper. I have thoughts about the gospel that I want to write down, but never do. I think a blog is a better way to journal for me (although some would question this). Also, I love discussing the gospel whether it be on Sunday in Relief Society, during a visiting teaching visit, with my family during Family Home Evening or with a friend at lunch. Why not create a blog to be able to discuss the gospel with even more people? Consider this a safe place to discuss gospel topics. I invite all to participate. I realize there will be some that disagree with the thoughts I express here. I encourage you to share your opinion/experiences, as long as your comments remain respectful to the writer and readers of this blog. :)

If you have a topic you would like to discuss/post on, please let me know. I would love for others to contribute!