Growing Gratitude

Regardless of our circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but pause and contemplate our blessings.

This is a wonderful time to be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways.

We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

Thomas S. Monson

When I heard this talk in General Conference, it really touched me and I wanted to improve in being more grateful, so I decided to challenge myself to do just 2 simple things every day for a month. I would post a quote on gratitude for my facebook status, and I would post a blog entry each day about what I was grateful for. It was a pretty easy thing to do, and as I got to the 4th or 5th day, I started noticing something that I hadn't really thought about when I started this project. I found myself more patient, more prayerful, more kind, more willing to serve, I noticed the things I had and didn't focus on what I lacked, I had a stronger desire to study the sciptures and to accomplish the things that were most important. The words from the talk "gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." came to my mind and I began to understand the profound meaning of that statement. This has been an amazing month and my heart is so full because of all the blessings that I have in my life and the recognition of how much I am loved by my Heavenly Father and my family. What started out as something small and simple has grown into an enlarged capacity to show my gratitude to the Lord and others each day. I pray I can continue to have a grateful heart and remember to count my blessings daily.