Gratitude
Daily Gems - 9 October 2009
Working through Adversity to Help Others
“Age and illness can test the best of us. My friend served as our bishop when my daughters were still at home. . . .
“I visited him in his home from time to time to thank him and to give him priesthood blessings. His health began a slow decline. I can’t remember all the ailments he suffered. . . . He was in constant pain. Yet every time I visited to give him comfort, he turned the tables; I was always the one comforted. His back and legs forced him to use a cane to walk. Yet there he was in church, always sitting near the door, where he could greet those arriving early, with a smile.”
Topics: Serving Others, Gratitude
Daily Gems - 7 September 2009
Faith and Spiritual Strength
“We need strong Christians who can persevere against hardship, who can sustain hope through tragedy, who can lift others by their example and their compassion, and who can consistently overcome temptations. We need strong Christians who can make important things happen by their faith and who can defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism.”
Daily Gems - 1 July 2009
Pray Always
"We are commanded to 'pray always' (2 Nephi 32:9; D&C 10:5; 90:24)—'vocally as well as in [our] heart[s]; . . . before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private' (D&C 19:28). I testify that prayer becomes more meaningful as we counsel with the Lord in all of our doings, as we express heartfelt gratitude, and as we pray for others with real intent and a sincere heart.
"I witness Heavenly Father lives and that He hears and answers every earnest prayer."
Daily Gems - 20 May 2009
Children Helping Mothers
"What can children, even young children, do [to help their mothers]? Now, you children, please listen to me because there are some simple things you can do to help your mother.
"You can pick up your toys when you are finished playing with them, and when you get a little older, you can make your bed, help with the dishes, and do other chores—without being asked.
"You can say thank you more often when you finish a nice meal, when a story is read to you at bedtime, or when clean clothes are put in your drawers.
"Most of all, you can put your arms around your mother often and tell her you love her."
Topics: Gratitude, Motherhood, Children
Daily Gems - 27 April 2009
Moving Forward in His Work
"With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift my voice in testimony today as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He loves us with a love we cannot fully comprehend, and because He loves us, He gave His life for us. My gratitude to Him is beyond expression.
"I invoke His blessings upon you, my beloved brothers and sisters, in your homes, in your work, in your service to one another and to the Lord Himself. Together we shall move forward doing His work."
Topics: Gratitude, Jesus Christ, Love
Family Gems - 23 February 2009
A Happy Home Is a Haven
“A happy home is but an earlier heaven. President George Albert Smith asked, ‘Do we want our homes to be happy? If we do, let them be the abiding place of prayer, thanksgiving and gratitude’ (in Conference Report, Apr. 1944, p. 32.)”
Topics: Gratitude
Church History Gems - 4 July 2008
Demonstrate Thanks and Gratitude
"Surely every soul who understands what the Savior did for us loves him and desires to demonstrate, in a realistic manner, thanks and gratitude.
"In the 59th section of the Doctrine and Covenants there is a revelation in which the Lord tells us specifically how we can do this.
"The said revelation was received by the Prophet Joseph Smith in Independence, Missouri, on August 7, 1831. The Saints were then just beginning to gather in Zion. The land had been consecrated and the temple site had been dedicated.
"The Lord began the revelation by saying:
" '. . . blessed . . . are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory. . . .
Topics: Gratitude
Family Gems - 6 June 2008
A Happy Home Is a Haven
"A happy home is but an earlier heaven. President George Albert Smith asked, 'Do we want our homes to be happy? If we do, let them be the abiding place of prayer, thanksgiving and gratitude' (in Conference Report, Apr. 1944, p. 32)."
Daily Gems - 28 May 2008
Being Grateful Will Make Us Happy
"Mercies and blessings come in different forms--sometimes as hard things. Yet the Lord said, 'Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things' (D&C 59:7). All things means just that: good things, difficult things--not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy. This is another evidence of His love."
Daily Gems - 20 May 2008
Gratitude Brings Heightened Awareness
"Gratitude is a Spirit‑filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence."
Topics: Joy, Gratitude, Spirituality
Daily Gems - 25 April 2008
Receiving All Things with Thankfulness
"He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious".
Topics: Gratitude
Daily Gems - 24 April 2008
We Have Forgotten God
"Consider these words written by Abraham Lincoln as part of a resolution in 1863:
"'We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.
"'It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our . . . sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.' (John Wesley Hill, Abraham Lincoln, Man of God, 4th ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, p. 391.)"
Topics: Gratitude
Daily Gems - 23 April 2008
Ingratitude--One of the Evils of Our Time
"One of the evils of our time is taking for granted so many of the things we enjoy. This was spoken of by the Lord: 'For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?' (D&C 88:33). The Apostle Paul described our day to Timothy when he wrote that in the last days 'men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy' (2 Tim. 3:2). These sins are fellow travelers, and ingratitude makes one susceptible to all of them."
Topics: Gratitude
Daily Gems - 22 April 2008
Gratitude and the Holy Ghost
"You could have an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. You could start to count your blessings, and then pause for a moment. If you exercise faith, and with the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will find that memories of other blessings will flood into your mind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, your prayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance will come. And so will gratitude."
Topics: Prayer, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Gratitude
Church History Gems - 5 March 2008
Plymouth Rock Custom
"I, Brigham Young, Governor of the Territory aforesaid, in response to the time-honoured custom of our fathers at Plymouth Rock, by the Governors of the several States and Territories, and with a heart filled with humiliation, and gratitude to the Fountain of all good, for His multiplied munificence to His children, have felt desirous to, and Do Proclaim Thursday, the First Day of January, Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-Two a Day of Praise and Thanksgiving for the citizens of this our peaceful Territory; in honour of the God of Abraham, who has preserved His children amid all the vicissitudes they have been called to pass; for His tender mercies in preserving the nation undivided in which we live; for causing the Gospel of His kingdom to spread and take root upon the earth, beyond the power of men and demons to destroy; and that He has promised a day of universal joy and rejoicing to all the inhabitants who shall remain when the earth shall have been purified by fire and rest in peace."
Topics: Gratitude
Family Gems - 10 December 2007
Gratitude for Mothers
"There is gratitude for our mothers.
"Mother, who willingly made that personal journey into the valley of the shadow of death to give us birth, deserves our undying gratitude. One writer summed up our love for mother when he declared, 'God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers.'
"While on the cruel cross of Calvary, suffering intense pain and anguish, Jesus 'saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!' (John 19:26-27.) What a divine example of gratitude and love!"
Topics: Love, Motherhood, Gratitude
Family Gems - 7 December 2007
Gratitude for Fathers
"Let us reflect gratitude for our fathers.
"Father . . . is ever willing to sacrifice his own comfort for that of his children. Daily he toils to provide the necessities of life, never complaining, ever concerned for the well-being of his family. This love for children, this desire to see them well and happy, is a constant in a time of change."
Topics: Gratitude, Fatherhood
Youth Gems - 27 November 2007
Gratitude for Parents
"First, may I ask that we express thanks to our parents for life, for caring, for sacrificing, for laboring to provide a knowledge of our Heavenly Father's plan for happiness.
"From Sinai the words thunder to our conscience, 'Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee' (Exodus 20:12)."
Daily Gems - 15 November 2007
Expressions of Gratitude
"The Prophet Joseph said at one time that one of the greatest sins of which the Latter-day Saints would be guilty is the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of us have not thought of that as a great sin. There is a great tendency for us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much (God, Family, Country, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, p. 199)."
Daily Gems - 14 November 2007
Gratitude Defines Noble Characters
"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."
Topics: Gratitude
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