Grateful in Any Circumstance


We can choose to be grateful, no matter what.

Reading President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's most recent conference talk, I asked this question of myself:   What does gratitude look like in my life?  

I think I'm a pretty thankful person.  When people give me things or do things for me, I express my thanks readily.  After any event I try to find the person in charge to thank them for a lovely time.  I teach my kids to thank their teachers or others who do things for them.  But is this gratitude? 

What about the times I have my kids clean the kitchen and walk in later only to complain that the sink wasn't cleaned out and the dishes weren't loaded as I would have done them? 

What about when I leave my husband or the kids at home to do something and upon return start demanding the house to be cleaned or it's time to get to bed?  

What about the times when I'm in a hurry (for lack of planning better) and complain about the long line at the grocery store, the multiple red lights, or the slow driver in my way? 

What about the time just this morning when my husband woke up late and so we had to share the bathroom while getting ready for our day?  I could have just been grateful to have more time with him rather than griping about the invasion of my space and destruction of my routine!  

I'm beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, Laman and Lemuel's constant murmuring was simply a bad case of ingratitude!  Maybe it was their ingratitude that led to their eventual rebellion and dissent.  If that is true, oh the importance of practicing gratitude in our own lives so as to avoid the same destructive end.  

And so I pledge to look more at the good than the bad, to see the efforts not the results, and to smile each time I get a bit disappointed so my reaction can be more pure.  


*****


My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack. Or we can choose to be like Nephi...We can choose to be like Job...We can choose to be like the Mormon pioneers...We can choose to be like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, while a prisoner in miserable conditions in Liberty Jail, penned these inspired words: “Dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” - - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - - 

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