Gratitude

by Randal S. Chase

One of the greatest lessons in life is to learn the value of gratitude.

It is all too easy to be forgetful of the source of our blessings these days. Either through the complacency of plenty, or the turmoil of economic trouble, we are too caught up in living, it seems, to remember who it is that has granted us life, and all that comes with it.

We are indebted to God for every breath we take. How many times have we watched loved ones, neighbors, or others of close acquaintance be taken? It always shocks us. We know that we are not exempt from death ourselves. Yet, how often do we thank God for the fact that we are still here? Here to enjoy our families, our world, and everything around us. It’s one of those things that we take for granted.

We are indebted to God for the sacred privilege of knowing the truths that we know. How few people have that knowledge! How few people know anything about eternal marriage, or the priesthood, or the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit! How few people out of the billions that live on the earth are privileged to have been literally born into these covenants! How much more meaning life has with the understanding God has given us, than it would without that understanding! It’s one of those things that we take for granted.

How wonderful it is to hold the priesthood; to be able to use it to bless our children, our and our neighbors. Has any father ever baptized child, and -not felt a deep sense of gratitude for his priesthood? Our priesthood allows us to enter sacred temples, and there seal our families together in an eternal bond that will last forever. It’s one of those things that we take for granted.

The list goes on. Our jobs. Our homes. Our friends and our loved ones. If we take the time to really think about it, and focus on what we have, as opposed to what we don’t have, we cannot help but realize how blessed we are, And if we compare our circumstances to just about any group of people in the world, there’s no question that we are greatly blessed. We are more free, more full, more secure, more knowledgeable, more able to enjoy the bounties of this world than millions, even billions, of others living today, in other parts of the world. There are simply too many things that we take for granted.

Let us do more than pay lip service to our blessings. Let us resolve to give God more credit for the things we are and the things we do.

God loves us. May we see that more clearly and humbly give thanks for all the things that we usually and casually take for granted.