An Attitude of Gratitude...

Doctrine and Covenants 59:7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. When we choose to have a positive Attitude and to live our lives in joy we are showing our thanksgiving to God. We are showing Him that we are grateful for the very life which he has given us. In the book of Luke, chapter 17, we read: “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: “And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. “And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, “And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

“And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? “There are not any found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. “And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:11–19.) Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The expressed gratitude by one merited the Master’s blessing, the ingratitude shown by the nine, his disappointment. Like the leprosy of yesteryear are the plagues of today. They linger; they debilitate; they destroy. They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries. We know them as selfishness, greed, indulgence, cruelty, and crime, to identify but a few. Surfeited with their poison, we tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and, slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life. This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help. 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. -Thomas S. Monson, An Attitude of Gratitude, Ensign, May 19 Gratitude... is a quality that instantly makes a person more likable and more at peace. Where there is an abundance of this virtue, there is happiness. Where there is an absence of this virtue, there is often sadness, resentment and futility... If we only look around us, there are a thousand reasons for us not to be happy... the more we focus on the things we don't have, the more unhappy and more resentful we become. -Joseph B. Wirthlin, Live in Thanksgiving Daily, Ensign, September 2001 A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -President Monson, The Divine Gift of Gratitude, October Conference 2010 May I have a grateful heart...for all that I am...all that I have...all that the Lord sees fit to bless me with.