Wednesday, June 19,
2013
“Count your many blessings” was my
theme for the day and I went to an expert for definition. Here are a few thoughts from our prophet that
I’m sure are familiar to you. He has
given several talks on gratitude and it is always inspiring to read them again.
We are thankful for blessings
we cannot measure, for gifts we cannot appraise, “for books, music, art, and
for the great inventions which make these blessings available[;] … for the
laughter of little children[;] … for the … means for relieving human suffering
… and increasing … the enjoyment of life[;] … for everything good and
uplifting.” 8
The prophet Alma urged,
“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good;
yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch
over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full
of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the
last day.” 9
The story is told of a group of
men who were talking about people who had influenced their lives and for whom
they were grateful. One man thought of a high school teacher who had introduced
him to Tennyson. He decided to write and thank her. In time, written in a
feeble scrawl, came the teacher’s reply:
“My Dear Willie:
“I
can’t tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my 80s, living alone in
a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely and like the last leaf lingering
behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and
yours is the first note of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a
blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has for years.”
We owe an eternal debt of gratitude to all of those, past and
present, who have given so much of themselves that we might have so much
ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment