This year has been flying by so quickly that sometimes it seems like you blink and another month has gone. Now here it is A Season of Thanksgiving with the Season of Joy, Hope and Love quickly following. I am so glad that these two seasons are before us with so many people that I love and know that have lost loved ones or are miss being with those they love. Tragic events are happening around the world almost every day now. I know that as I read about those events and hear so much about the hate, disregard for life and trying to destroy each other that my heart just wants to be totally involved with these two beautiful seasons that are before us now.
“A Season of Thanksgiving”…a wonderful quote by Elder Quentin L. Cook says “Gratitude is a form of Love to God.” What a beautiful saying! I also read one by President Dieter F Uchtdorf that simply said that everyone has something to be grateful for. Have you ever thought about writing down everything that you have to be grateful for in your life! I cannot even begin to list all of the many blessings that I am grateful for because those blessings would fill numerous notebooks before I could finish. I was thinking that this might be a nice family home evening activity even for me. What about having a jar where you could put in what you are grateful for on a piece of paper and on Thanksgiving you could read those little slips or big slips of paper! Or even make it more exciting for your children and have a notebook by a bag of candies and every time that they write down what they are grateful for they get to put one of those candies into a jar that will be opened on New Year’s Day! Or what about getting on your knees one day and for your morning and evening prayers all you do is “Thank Him” for everything that He has blessed you with in your life. How long would those prayers be that day!! For me, those prayers would be endless because every day He blesses me with more beautiful experiences that raise me up and let me know just how much He loves me. The gratitude I feel at times is overwhelming. I have an Eternal Father and His Son, my Redeemer and Savior, that have provided a way for me to make it back to my eternal home and they did it out of love for me and for you. How will we feel when we actually are able to stand in their presence once again! I wonder if I will be standing or falling to my knees with tears in my eyes. I can only imagine what it will be like because I know how I feel when I get to see my brother, Tom, in Colorado Springs. I remember how I felt so much JOY about seeing Tom that I started crying as my plane was landing. Now if I feel that way about Tom, how will I feel when I see my Savior, Jesus Christ, my Elder Brother, the Only Begotten of the Father. However, for this earthly experience and for a Savior that loves me and you so much that He would lay down His life for us so that we could return home to Him and our Eternal Father in Heaven, I have an overwhelming gratitude that often brings tears to my eyes as I think about them. Oh Father, how grateful I am to Thee and to Thy Son, my Redeemer!!
Gratitude also fills my heart for family and friends and for all those individuals who have touched my life in one way or another. Lessons learned from relationships with family and friends are lessons that we will take with us when we leave this earth life, but they are relationships which help us to be better people. I have learned lessons that I will treasure for the rest of my life and other lessons that I wish I could forget. However, all the lessons helped me to become the woman that I am today.
The scriptures are a treasure that I am so grateful I have to lead me through these latter days. A prophet of God to look up to and to listen to for direction along with the other general authorities that teach us about the Kingdom of God. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for all those that I come in contact with that help my faith to grow and who I can also be an example of a believer!
The Holy Temple, the House of the Lord, is a place of peace, refuge and personal revelation that I will forever be grateful for being able to attend. Being able to be in an environment where the Spirit of the Lord resides brings joy, love, peace, knowledge, and understanding to a heart that desires to be close to her Father in Heaven always. How I treasure my time and memories of the Temple!!!
My little four legged friends have touched my life as they have taught me about unconditional love and devotion. Some would not understand how much a person can come to love them and to be grateful for their devotion. However, being single, my little companions before and Dora now will always be on my list of beings that I am grateful for in my life.
Material blessings have been mine throughout the years and now there have been some hard times touching my life. However, even with the hard times comes tender mercies and love from my Father in Heaven as He shows me that the circumstances around receiving and giving are more important than the items given. My dad has always made sure that his family was taken care of and he taught us well. We may not have been rich in material wealth but we were rich with love and with the Gospel. My mother and father showed me principles of love as they took care of their three children. Yes, material blessings are nice and I will always be grateful for them; but the people and the feelings and the outcomes matter more.
Guess I am getting older now as all of the things that use to matter me don’t any more. I don’t need a fancy car or a large home or all of the newest toys. But I also don’t think it is bad if you can afford it to have those things. For me, those experiences that bring me closer to my Father in Heaven and my Savior along with my family and friends burn stronger and encourage me to keep moving on the strait and narrow path that will eventually lead me back home are what I am most eternally grateful.
My Father in Heaven allowed me to know of His eternal truths from an early age and that has stirred within me my Testimony that has grown with the years. Learning of Him and His Son will always be the most important thing in my life. How grateful I am that now my Testimony burns strongly in my heart and in my mind each day and night. I know that my Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, live and that they love each one of us so much and want us to return home to them when our earthly journey is done. Oh how my Testimony brings me “JOY”!!
Gratitude will always be known and spoken by those who LOVE. What a wonderful season this is – “A Season of Thanksgiving!”
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