When I was 12 my dad and brothers went on a canoe trip. I was too young so stayed behind. I wished I could go. It was a quiet and boring 12 days in Ontario without my brothers to harass and be harassed by. When they returned, I was told of all their exploits. All the highs and lows. All the fun they had, the fish they caught, the swimming, the portages, all of it. I could not wait until I could go. I’ve been on four such 2 week Canoe Trips and would do another in a second. We’d start to tell stories of our canoe trips and my wife would always shake her head and say, “How is that fun?” We talk about how it builds character and is a microcosm for life. In fact, I doubt there is anyone who hasn’t heard someone in the family say something to the effect of, “”A canoe trip is alot like life,” then bust into a story that related to life. One Sunday, my Dad started one of his analogies differently, he said, “you know, Trek is alot like life,” and carried on with his story. My wife and I had just come home from trek and we loved it. That’s all it took for my wife to be convinced of the value of these functions. Trek was not fun. It was alot of work. But the experience was worth our time and made us better.
My boys are eager to go on a canoe trip, they’ve heard stories from their dad, grandpa, uncles and cousins and while it will be tough, they survived Trek as 8 & 9 year-olds and talk about it often. Just like I did when I was 12, they need to wait until they are old enough to go; they need to be ready. That won’t stop them from dreaming about what’ll happen when we do go though. But they won’t think about what exactly a kilometer long portage feels like, especially while carrying a heavy pack on your sunburned shoulders. The whole time slapping mosquitoes only to reach the end of the portage, drop the packs and head back for another load. They won’t think of what the actual effect of paddling for hours and hours has on your body. They won’t think of sleeping in a tiny tent, on hard foam mattresses, waking up with your sunburnt arms, shoulders or back stuck to that sticky foamie and having to peel it off. They won’t really think about where they will have to go to the bathroom. I’m not trying to scare anyone from going on a Wilderness camp, it is alot of work, but the benefits far outweigh the cost. When they do go, they will likely complain, but they will cherish their time as I did.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all missed out on some opportunity, only to be amazed at the stories that are told of one particular event or another. The heroics, the enjoyment, the sights, sounds and smells. Yet when we go, do we really appreciate the moment?
We have all sat listening to stories about courage, daring, love, overcoming obstacles, beautiful sights and sounds. We wanted to see and experience these things so badly. We’ve been warned it will be tough. There would be heartache and disappointment. There might be injury or health concerns. There will be trials and temptations. There will be distractions of all kinds. There will be opportunity for growth or for adventure or even failure. We were promised total and utter opportunity to do whatever we wanted.
As we all sat there in the Pre-Earth life, we were psyched for the opportunity to come to Earth. I remember the old 80’s Film ‘Saturday’s Warrior’ when the two friends were in the pre-Earth life and they were looking forward to life on earth and all the good they would do, before busting into a cheesily choreographed song and dance about how they would help teach whole cities and nations. They had this idea of what life would be like.
But as I think about the pre-earth life, I don’t think it’s so far off. As we look into the future and are excited and a little nervous about what will come, we are the same way. I bet we were all planning on coming down to Earth and being the best version of ourselves. We were gonna kick butt and take names. We heard the stories and were eager to get started. We watched as the Earth was created, Adam and Eve were placed in the garden. We watched and cheered on Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Esther, Daniel and Captain Moroni. We solemnly watched as the Saviour was born in a manger, grew up, ministered, atoned, died and was resurrected. We watched as the Apostles taught and were taken from the Earth. We planned and prepared as best we could for our day. We were gonna succeed and the world would be a better place because of us and the stories we would tell would be legendary.
We knew there would be adversity. We knew there would be health issues. We knew we’d struggle. We knew there would be distractions. We knew there would be trials and temptations of all kind that would try to derail our growth and we signed up anyway. We chose to come to Earth despite these things. We were happy to do it. It would mean we would get a body and would become like our Heavenly Parents. Finally it was our turn. We each were born and with that, the veil was placed and our memory of everything we were planning was forgotten. But what has really changed? Should we be any less grateful for our lives just because we cannot remember how badly we wanted to be here?
Want to know how I know we were so desperate to come to Earth to receive a body. It only takes a little scripture research. The first example is in Mark. The Saviour had just travelled by boat and upon exiting was approached by a man with an unclean spirit that afflicted him. Legion, who was many, begged Jesus to leave him be. Jesus had mercy on the man and commanded the Spirits to leave him. Legion then begged him to give them a body, any body. The Devils even requested to be sent into the bodies of some pigs, because that was better than nothing. Jesus allowed that and the swine immediately ran off an edge of a cliff. Did you catch it? Being cast into the body of a pig is better than not having a body.
Think about that next time we curse our bodies for whatever is ailing us. Whether it’s a legitimate health concern, a silly mistake which led to an injury or something age related. We have been blessed with a body. We knew what we signed up for. We knew our body would fail and we signed up anyway.
I heard a talk several years ago, maybe 7-8 years ago about being grateful and keeping lists of what they were grateful for and they had realized there was nothing for which they were not grateful. When I first heard it I was skeptical, but the talk stayed with me and as I think about it now, I completely agree. Everything that ever happens to us is part and parcel to our Earthly life, and I think, if we’d given our Pre-Earth selves the opportunity to jump into life at this exact time, we would’ve happily jumped into the exact situation that we might be complaining about today.
There are several problems with complaining.
First off, it is lazy; it requires no effort. “If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill. To choose the Lord’s way is to choose higher ground.” (Henry B. Eyring) Gratitude requires effort, and bring us closer to God. “Promise Him you would count your blessings too, any time you begin to count your problems.” (Jeffrey R. Holland)
Secondly, it is selfish, when we complain we are focused solely on our own situation. “Selfishness if really self-destruction in slow motion.” (Neal A. Maxwell)
Thirdly, it devalues the human experience. No one in heaven will be bragging about how much they complained on Earth. Jeffrey R. Holland has said, “No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse.”
Fourth, and most importantly, it ignores God’s role in our life. The Lord has said. “‘And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not His hand in all things, and obey not His commandments’ (D&C 59:21). It is clear to me from this scripture that to ‘thank the Lord thy God in all things’ (D&C 59:7) is more than a social courtesy; it is a binding commandment.” (James E. Faust)
President Joseph F. Smith was quoted as saying, “One of the greatest sins in which the inhabitants of the Earth are guilt today, is the sin of ingratitude.”
To not fall into the sin of ingratitude, here are some ways which we can show and grow our gratitude.
1) Remember Him
Every week, we partake of the Sacrament, renewing our baptismal covenants. How often do we focus on the prayers as they are given? Each week, we covenant to “always remember Him.” Putting forth effort to remember Him will cause us to be better, by helping us to re-prioritize our lives in alignment with the teachings of the Gospel. “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” (Russell M. Nelson)
2) Recognize His Hand
Jeffrey R. Holland shared a story on the anniversary of a memorable day for him.
“I will never forget December 23, 1976. It was the day my father had two heart attacks—during and after his back surgery that day. By the time we finally got to see him, wired and tubed and gray and unconscious, it was mid-afternoon on December 24, Christmas Eve. “Magnificent timing,” I muttered to no one in particular.
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At 3:00 a.m. in a very quiet hospital, immersed as I was in some sorrow and self-pity, heaven sent me a small, personal, prepackaged revelation—a tiny Christmas declaration. In the midst of my mumbling about the very poor calendaring in all of this, I heard the clear, unbroken cry of a baby. To this day, I do not know just where that baby was or how I heard it. I like to think it was a brand-new baby taking that first breath and announcing that he or she had arrived in the world.
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God could not have sent a more penetrating wake-up call. It came to me in a profound way that in this life, no one can have real love without dealing with real loss, and we certainly can’t rejoice over one’s birth and the joy of living unless we are prepared to understand and accept difficulty, trouble, and death. These are God’s gifts to us.
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With new eyes then, that morning, I went back to look at my dad, the great gift-giver who was starting to make his way out of the world on Christmas Day. He was doing so on the wings of the greatest gift ever given—the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the birth at Bethlehem and what it led to, there is rising after falling. There is life eternal.” (Jeffrey R. Holland)
All things, not just a few, or most, but all things are made possible by and through Jesus Christ.
3) Give a Prayer of Thanksgiving
Elder Bednar shared an experience where he and his wife were invited by a General Authority to only express appreciation during an evening prayer and ask for nothing. Earlier in the day, they had heard about the sudden passing of a friend and wanted to pray for the comfort of this person’s family. But, they were obedient and gave a prayer of thanks. “Sister Bednar responded in faith to the direction she received. She thanked Heavenly Father for meaningful and memorable experiences with this dear friend. She communicated sincere appreciation for the plan of salvation, for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for his resurrections and for the ordinances and covenants of the restored gospel which make it possible for families to be together forever.” (David A. Bednar)
The prayer became more meaningful because of their experiences and sincerity offered in the prayer.
Might I suggest, as Elder Michael D. Jones did, that we offer an out-loud prayer, this time of gratitude. Let Heavenly Father know why you are grateful for the things you usually are grateful for. As you express these things out loud, it will become more meaningful for you,
4) Keep a Gratitude Journal
I’m not great at this, but I’m trying to get better. But I’ve bumped into enough testimonies of it that I really should be better at it.
Henry B. Eyring was quoted as saying, “As you start to write, you could ask yourself ‘How did God Bless me today?’ If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.” (Henry B. Eyring)
Some of you might know that I have started to Blog. I never liked English class, or writing assignments. But over the past year, I have been impressed to start documenting my life and try to convey my feelings, especially in regards to the Gospel. I thought a blog would be an effective tool for that. I never really intended to share these blogs with anyone. It was more an effort to put down in words my life. A means to relay to my sons how I feel about things and to share experiences I have had. It started out as emails to myself, then progressed from there.
I encourage each of you to find an effective way to document your life and the blessings you’ve received from the Lord.
5) Obey His Commandments
If we are truly grateful and recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives, we will want to express our faith in Him by placing our lives in His care. Exercising that type of faith will change how we live and naturally we will want to repent of the mistakes we have made in the past and strive to be better by obeying His Commandments and aligning ourselves with His teachings.
Two of my favourite Christmas Movies are “The Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” … I think the reason I like them so much are because they are redemption stories. Each take place when the main character is at a pivotal moment in their life, where a choice needs to be made, whether they know it or not. Both aren’t aware of how important their lives are and the impact they are having, but both are given unique experiences where they can review their lives and see their role in life.
I think both have done a marvelous job of capturing what that experience might be like.
Put yourself into that experience. Think about it. Pretend that you are going about your business, worried about bills, groceries, work troubles, or scheduling conflicts. Think about the demands placed on you by work, family, relatives, and the church. Now think about how precarious life is and how at any moment, all those concerns I was just talking about may not be a concern anymore. Your time has come. You’ve seen your own funeral, reviewed your own life, and you are in line towards the judgment seat, ready to make an account for the life you have lived. Would you be confidant going into that meeting? Is there anything you would’ve done differently? Did you place too high a priority on things that shouldn’t have taken up so much time? Did you tell your family you loved them?
I’m not trying to scare anyone, and we definitely shouldn’t dwell on things that are past, but what are we doing about becoming better. As we turn our hearts to the Lord with a grateful heart, I believe we will be in tune with the Spirit to most effectively answer these questions now, and not in hindsight.
6) Serve Others
Anyone with kids can agree that to see your children help one another is amongst the most rewarding experiences as a parent and almost makes you feel like you’re doing something right. Not that Heavenly Father needs to feel validated, but I’m certain he looks at us helping one another with at least a similar level of satisfaction.
I love all parables but Luke 15 is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. Jesus shares three parables. The first is of the lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves the 99 to find the 1. Another parable is of a women who lost a valued coin and cleaned the entire house till she found it. The last parable is of the prodigal son. These three parables in such quick succession teach the value of each soul. No one is valued more than another. We are all valued equal to the Lord, but some are lost, or have gone astray. He is trusting that those who are nearby will reach out and help those who are struggling, or need a hand. We will all struggle and will need a hand at one point or another.
7) Express Gratitude to Others
“Choose to be Grateful! No. Matter. What.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf) This might be the most challenging thing of all. As people, we are generally not great at communicating. The other week, my wife made some pizza buns for me to bring to work. While most of the guys simply asked me to convey their gratitude, one fellow added, “No wonder you’re so big, your wife’s a great cook.” I was impressed it his ability to insult me while complimenting my wife. Luckily I chose not to be offended.
How often do we go out of our way to recognize the efforts of others, and worse, when we do recognize them, how often do we bother to let others know that we’re grateful for them.
8) Follow the Prophets
The Prophet is the Lord’s representative on Earth. He is quite literally God’s ambassador, His watchman, His voice. If we are grateful to our Heavenly Father, we will look to the Prophet for guidance, instruction, and opportunity to serve. Likewise, General Authorities are given keys and responsibilities from God, as are Stake Presidents, Bishops, Branch Presidents, Elders Quorum Presidents, and Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Presidents.
When we look to God with a grateful heart we will recognize the power of God in our lives and look to honour Him by following the counsel of those who are authorized to make decisions.
We are seeing an unprecedented amount of change in the Church. It can be overwhelming. It can be strange. But, the doctrine has not changed, only the programs.
For example and this will likely resonate more to those over the age of 30, but 100 years ago when you wanted to connect to the internet, you had to do so using a phone line. You had to kick everyone off the phone, then try to connect. Connecting often was identified by the noises. “urrrr EEEE urrr NNNGGGG CRRRRcrrrr KEEEEEEE grrr nnnnnng Deeee ehhhh errrrr…..deee uh deee uh deee uhhhhhhhh errrrr” At which point, you would be connected, and could download a song or two, if no one picked up the phone in the next hour or two. We were grateful for that. Since then, we can now download wirelessly, away from the home, we can stream live video and have video chats. Stuff from Back to the Future, in fact, we’re living in the Future. It’s no different in the church. Like dial up, or ADSL, the Church has has done away with Home teaching and 3-hour church. They are introducing more effective means of learning through the Spirit.
Let’s not be ungrateful servants. Let’s be found doing. Let’s be thankful in all things, serving one another and following the prophet.
“When the Savior comes, I so want to be caught living the gospel. I want to be surprised right in the act of spreading the faith and doing something good. I want the Savior to say to me: “Jeffrey”—because He knows all of our names—“I recognize you not by your title but by your life, the way you are trying to live and the standards you are trying to defend. I see the integrity of your heart. I know you have tried to make things better first and foremost by being better yourself, and then by declaring my word and defending my gospel to others in the most compassionate way you could.” “I know you weren’t always successful,” He will certainly say, “with your own sins or the circumstances of others, but I believe you honestly tried. I believe in your heart you truly loved me. I want to have something like that encounter someday as I want nothing else in this mortal life. And I want it for you. I want it for us all.” (Jeffrey R. Holland)
Let’s be found doing. Let’s be found making the world a better place. Let’s be found trying to be better.
~ Todd Bruce
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