Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude- By Lesley

A few days ago, the night before Thanksgiving, I was driving home and thinking that I didn’t have lots to be grateful for. I have a job that drives me crazy, my car needs new tiers, I don’t have money to buy christmas presents, and my apartment has a weird, funky, smell. I clearly did not have an attitude of gratitude. So when I learned that my topic for today was gratitude, I knew that Heavenly Father was humbling me and teaching me a lesson.

From Doctrine and Covenants 59:21 we learn, with whom is the Lord displeased? “Those who do not confess his hand in all things.” That is, those who are not grateful for all that they have and all that they are. I felt guilty about my un-thankful-ness after reading this. And then in Alma 34:38 it reads, “Humble yourselves and live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which He doth bestow upon you.” Ok so far I have learned that I need to be grateful and humble so that the Lord will be pleased with me and if He is happy with me then I’ll be happy with me too.

An article I read in the Deseret News said, “Regular expressions of gratitude not only brighten the day of the recipient, but improve the happiness of the giver. Studies find that people who report feeling and acting more grateful are far less prone to depression.” If we are more grateful we are less depressed!

All right, I think I learned my lesson. We can cultivate an attitude of gratitude and live in thanksgiving daily by savoring the small things, serving others, and sharing our gratitude.

Pres, Hinckley says in his book “Way to Be” that, “Your very attitude toward life can be evidence for wether or not you are truly grateful for life, for the blessings you have, for the comforts and privileges and opportunities you enjoy, for the talents you have been given, for everything.”

Take time to savor the small things and blessings of life. By honing increased appreciation for the small wonders in our daily lives, we become more grateful people. Stop to smell the roses and ignore the thorns! Find joy in the journey! Drink in life! And all that good stuff.

Some of the little things I savor are: a good hug, the sour-ness of a green apple, a well timed text of love, support or funny joke, the beautiful mountains that are around us, getting lost in a great book, a purring kitty, being able to travel around the world, and my favorite song on the radio after a long work day.

When we serve, we step outside of ourselves and strengthen human relationships. We also begin to put any of our own concerns into proper perspective. As I was preparing this talk and came to this part about service I got a call from my sister asking if I could come watch her kids so she could take her husband to the Doctor. I dropped everything to go serve my sister. She was so grateful for my help and I was so happy to give it. I have been very lucky to travel with my family for humanitarian service. I have found that the saying is true that when you get lost in service your own problems fall into their proper place and you realize how great your life is and how happy you truly are.

Mosiah 2:17 says “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” On one of our trips, my family was helping put together a dozen wheel chairs in Cebu, Philippines. Now these were not the typical wheel chair, but more like a plastic lawn chair with bicycle wheels. Hey they worked great but boy were they hard to put together. Not two chairs could be assembled the same way so there was no learning curve and no instructions. We all did the back breaking and mentally exhausting work for hours. It was hot and the sun was beating down on us. I was getting frustrated. It was like putting together the world worst jig-saw puzzle ever. As soon as the first young girl was placed in her chair and started giggling my heart totally melted. She was so happy to have the freedom to be independent, no one had to carry her anymore. She could go anywhere she wanted. Hearing her laugh and seeing her mother cry, made me feel ecstatic. This little family was transformed by this one chair. We took a polaroid of her and her family with the new wheel chair all looking so proud and grateful. Suddenly my fingers didn’t hurt from being pinched by the wrench and my sore back felt fine. All I felt was how much God loved this little girl and all the other people receiving wheel chairs. I was thankful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord that day to help this young girl.

Because of my humanitarian experiences in remote parts of the world I am very grateful for flushing toilets, modern medicine, more food than I could ever eat, freedom to go where I like and say what I like and believe what I like, a safe and warm place to live (even if it smells weird and funky) but most of all I have become grateful for God’s love for all his children. I have witnessed it. I believe it. I know it to be true.

Counting our blessings can improve mood but sharing sincere expressions of thanks has an even more powerful and lasting mood boosting effect.

Pres. Hinckley told us to, “Say thank you to your mother and father, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, and neighbors. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way. You will be surprised how often you find yourself saying simply, “Thank you”.

When I was a little girl I would always thank my mom at the checkout at the grocery store for buying food for our family. She never told me to do it but she did teach me to always say thank you to someone who helps you or does something nice for you. I guess that the workers thought that it was cute or crazy because I remember getting the weirdest looks but I still do it today when I shop with my mom.

Pres. Hinckley goes on to say, “If you do this [say “thank you”] you will find people responding to you differently than they have before. And interestingly, you will find that you are happier than you have ever been.”

Just expressing gratitude to our fellow men in not enough. We need to thank the Lord for His goodness too. In “Way to Be” it says, “Thanks Him for His great example, for His tremendous teachings, for His outreached hand. Thank Him for friends and family, for a strong body and a sound mind, for living in a land of freedom, for relative prosperity, advanced communication and the ease of travel. Pour out your heart to your Father in Heaven with gratitude for the gift of His Beloved Son.”

This reminds me of Elder David A. Bednar’s story about expressing heartfelt gratitude in a conference talk from October 2008.

At BYU-Idaho, a member of the Twelve Apostles graciously suggested that when the Bednar family prayed, they should express only appreciation for blessings received and ask for nothing. The family learned a great lesson about the power of thankfulness. They were blessed with inspiration, provided needed reassurance, had strengthened confidence, and received insights concerning the things about which they should pray and appropriately ask in faith. At the end of his story Elder Bednar said:

“Let me recommend that periodically you and I offer a prayer in which we only give thanks and express gratitude. Ask for nothing; simply let our souls rejoice and strive to communicate appreciation with all the energy of our hearts.”

At the time I heard this talk, my life was some what gray. I was under employed and I’m pretty sure that my boss didn’t like me, the boy I had a crush on wasn’t talking to me and I just felt blah about everything. I was taking a lot of things for granted, but I liked what Elder Bednar said so I made the goal to only express appreciation in my prays for a whole month. What a difference a month can make! Sure my boss still didn’t like me and the boy never texted back but I was happier. My relationship with things changed. I enjoyed every bite of food I put in my mouth. I liked exercise because I was grateful that I had a body that could move. I treasured my family and friends because I was thanking God for them everyday. As I look back at that time, it was a best of times and a worst of time scenario. I liked how I felt. I decided to keep only expressing gratitude in my prayers. So, when I finally did loose my job right after Thanksgiving it didn’t hurt too much, ok it did hurt but I was at least grateful for the experience.

When we savor the little blessings of life, find joy in the service of other, and share our expressions of heart felt thanks, we are cultivating an attitude of gratitude. President Hinckley said, “Gratitude creates the most wonderful feeling. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen friendships. And it makes us better men and women. Walk with gratitude in your hearts. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings that are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have. Work at it . You will find that it will yield wonderful results.”