“Observations”©

Donald S. Conkey

Date: November 26, 2009 - # 9948a – Be grateful today, Thanksgiving Day 2009 (821)

Today is Thanksgiving Day 2009. What are you grateful for today? Do you, as you gather with your family on this unique national holiday, have an ‘attitude of gratitude’ for the things you do have, be they little or big? During our sacrament services last Sunday four speakers addressed the topic of ‘being grateful unto the Lord’ in four different ways. The common thread was the gratitude they had for their Savior, the Lord.

       Philip Henderson, our first speaker, gave the typical teenage talk. He expressed well his gratitude for the blessings in his life: school, sports, parents, early morning seminary, etc. The second speaker, Erin Collins, a new mother, wondered out loud about the challenges that come with being a first time mom(several mothers smiled), but indicated that her new born was a gift from God and was teaching her patience and that enough little blessings create eternal blessings. She expressed gratitude for the challenges of life and for having the Gospel of Life in her life. The third speaker, a member of the bishopric, drawing from his missionary experiences in Brazil and 12 years of marriage and several children, reminded us humorously that his dreams as a newly wed weren’t always fulfilled as he had dreamt them, but he expressed gratitude for the gifts of life he had received. Our bishop then reminded us that it is our own ‘attitude of gratitude to the Lord’ that determines whether we will be happy or unhappy, regardless of the economic conditions we are currently living in. Their talks caused me to reassess today’s column – or at least some of it.

       The meeting closed and I asked myself, “What do I have to be grateful for today?” Plenty, I thought, as I rose and looked around and saw my wife, my daughter and her husband and my church family, from new born to aged, whom I have been associated with for over 15 years. I then inwardly expressed my gratitude for these bountiful blessings.  

       As I made my way to my Sunday school class I visited with good friends, urged a few teenagers to continue working on their scout projects and asked about someone missing today. Then a feeling of gratitude filled my soul. I was a part of all this. I felt needed, even at my advanced age. And you know what, it’s important to feel needed, regardless of one’s age. I then remembered the words of Dieter F. Uchtdorf, an inspired church leader who said: “Remember we are only temporary travelers in this world. Let us not devote our God given talents and energies to setting earthly anchors, but rather let us spend our days growing spiritual wings. For, as sons of the Most High God, we were created to soar unto new horizons.” He then challenged the aged who think they can retire from doing well with these words: “A great part of our work on this earth is to endure joyfully to the end – every day of our life.” How grateful I am for his inspired counsel.

       Even as I sit here at my computer writing these words I feel a feeling of internal gratitude for what the Lord has provided me, and you, here in these United States. It is a gloomy day outside today, the rain is falling, the wind is blowing and the squirrels are trying to get into our squirrel proof bird feeders. But the birds continue to come and partake of that which we provide. But they provide us too – hours of great joy. They are the proof there is, at least in my mind, a God in heaven who has provided each of us the opportunity to grow those spiritual wings and to reach out to others in need and in return to feel needed.

       Then my thoughts turned to what we have here in America, freedom and liberty and a system of government that can be changed if it gets out of control. I am grateful for those Founding Fathers who were given “the spiritual wings to soar unto new horizons” and to provide Americans a new way of governing, a system that rejected the accepted belief that only the elite could govern. I am grateful for each of America’s foundational documents that have been such a beacon of hope to the world’s enslaved during the past 230 years, and I’m grateful today for those honest and virtuous individuals who still believe this government was divinely inspired and work hard to restore those original principles of freedom the Founders embedded into these documents.

       May each of us, as we gather our families together today, take note of these blessings and express our gratitude to He who provided us with these freedoms, and pray that we are not foolish enough to allow them to be destroyed by those who believe they know better than we our own dreams and needs.

       Happy Thanksgiving Day 2009!