Spiritual Gratitude

July 27, 2014

Introduction
Today I want to talk about why gratitude is so important and positive steps we can take to
enhance our consciousness and our practice of this particular virtue. Beginning with some stories.
There is a story of an aging widow who eked out a meager living by selling soft pretzels on a
busy city street corner for fifty cents apiece. Each morning a businessman passed her corner on his way
to work. He had no taste for pretzels, but he wanted to help the person who sold them, so each morning
he would give her the fifty cents and not take a pretzel.
One morning, after the man had performed the daily ritual and was walking away, the woman called
him back. He said, I know. Youre wondering why it is that I never take my pretzel. She replied, I
couldnt care less about that. I just want you to know that the price has gone up to seventy-five cents.
A more familiar story that we have heard is found in Luke - one day the Savior entered a village
where there were 10 lepers. Now, those of us who have grown up in the last few years know very little
about lepers. Leprosy was a terrible, dreaded disease anciently (think of most dreaded illnesses today,
autoimmune, viral, etc). These 10 lepers came to the Savior and said, Master, have mercy upon us;
have mercy upon us who have that terrible ailment of leprosy. And He said to the 10 lepers, Go visit
your priest, and he will take care of youwhich they did. They went to see their priests, and they were
cleansed, all 10 of them. A short time later, one of them returned to the Savior and fell on his face and
his hands and his knees, thanking the Savior for blessing him and making him well from that terrible
disease. And the Savior said to that one man: Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine?
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise,
go thy way: they faith hath made thee whole. So we remember this story as ten lepers are healed but
only one was made whole.
Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given
a new lease on life. The gratitude expressed by one merited the Masters blessing, the ingratitude by the
nine His disappointment.
I pondered on the question, why did those nine never return? At least to some general sense they did
not return because of selfishness. That those nine perhaps had heard of a miracle worker and felt that
why should miracles then not be done for me. As they sought Him out and followed His instruction they
were cleansed of their lingering death, and felt that it was justified to them. I also believe that if you
were to confront any of those nine about the miracle that had been done they would be thankful and
without a doubt honor, the priest, that healed them.
Selfishness blinds us from seeing the hand of our loving Heavenly Father. It has been defined by
prophets as being self-destruction in slow motion. President Hinckley said that selfishness is the
antithesis of love. It is a cankering expression of greed. It destroys self-discipline. It obliterates loyalty. It
tears up sacred covenants.
How often have I not recognized the hand of the Lord in my life? That question has been on my mind
more over this last week. One great resolution that came to mind was to keep a journal of gratitude, or
even a word document that could be dated and filled each night as I take sacred time to recount event
that happened to me that day. I also thought of Elder Bednars talk from a few conferences ago where
he shared a story about giving a prayer of gratitude. He and his wife frequently housed members of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as they were visiting. That particular night they had received word one
of their dearest friends had passed away unexpectantly. Elder Bednar had asked his wife to offer the
prayer that night and no doubt in her heart and on her mind to bring comfort to the family of their
friend, but the situation was unknown to the member of the Twelve who suggested to sister Bednar to
off a prayer of gratitude. That in the prayer to express only appreciation for blessings received and ask
for nothing. Elder Bednar recounts the result of her faith in doing so was, our family was blessed with
inspiration about a number of issues that were pressing upon our minds and stirring in our hearts. We
learned that our gratefulness for the plan of happiness and for the Saviors mission of salvation provided
needed reassurance and strengthened our confidence that all would be well with our dear friends. We
also received insights concerning the things about which we should pray and appropriately ask in faith.
Going back to my mission, I recalled two specific conferences that taught me about gratitude. One being
that after my Mission President gave us all personalized pens that read on them How have I seen the
Hand of the Lord in my Life today?, and testified to us of the spiritual power that comes from taking the
time to do so. Serving as a representative of Jesus Christ, asking myself that question at the end of each
day brought many powerful, spiritual experiences.
The other from my Mission Presidents wife who gave us a lesson about scripture study. She spoke of in
our own lives we are so busy that we typically follow a strict schedule. We arent (usually) purposefully
late for classes, for church meetings, for home or visiting teaching visits. If we need to see a doctor
sometimes we even can almost magically shift and move our schedules around to accommodate a time
for them. Even other recreational activities play an important role in the time we set aside for them. She
posed the question, do we carry that priority to our personal scripture study? Is it a sacred appointment
we have set in our lives that we cannot be late for? She did not mention gratitude specifically in her talk
but with that lens in mind surely I am grateful for the scriptures and am more than willing to make a
sacred appointment with the Lord as I study them.
Showing gratitude is a pure expression. It requires effort and it requires our hearts. The one man who
returned fell on his face, his hands, his knees. I feel that such gratitude has been lacking in my own
life. I feel that expressing gratitude is similar to bearing testimony. There are times when we silently
reflect on the truths that we know and hold sacred in our hearts, but something drastically different
occurs when we choose to open our mouths and share our witness. We offer many silent prayers of
gratitude all throughout the day, grateful for sleep, for the food we eat, on rare occasion for our
roommates doing the dishes. Though there is something profound when we recognize those small
services or blessings choose to express gratitude. (Think of when you washed all those dishes and
thought to yourself, what a great service I am doing. But even though we may not be seeking open
acknowledgement for our chore how does it feel when its openly noticed by your roommates? Do we
give such open acknowledgement to our Heavenly Father? By so doing we are enhancing and growing
the attitude of gratitude in our lives.
I believe that another step we can take to enhance our gratitude is to conquer inadvertence. We are just
not as aware as we ought to be. We need to make a conscious effort, because there are people for
whom we should be grateful and there are opportunities all around us to express that gratitude. A
simple awareness of those people and those circumstances will not come easily or naturally, as the story
of the ten lepers illustrates. But we can work at it, and, like all worthwhile things, we will be happier and
better people if we will make the effort.
Now that Ive probably spoken here a little and there a little I really intended to address our personal
spiritual gratitude. Neal A. Maxwell said, Comparatively, we are so much quicker to return favors and to
pay our debts to mortals and we should be responsive and grateful. But what of Him who gave us
mortal life itself, who will ere long give us all immortality, and who proffers to the faithful the greatest
gift of all, eternal life We are poor bookkeepers indeed!
Its so easy in life for us to receive blessings, many of them almost uncounted, and have things happen in
our lives that can help change our lives, improve our lives, and bring the Spirit into our lives. But we
sometimes take them for granted. How grateful we should be for the blessings that the gospel of Jesus
Christ brings into our hearts and souls. If were ever going to show gratitude properly to our Heavenly
Father, we should do it with all of our heart, might, mind, and strengthbecause it was He who gave us
life and breath. He gave us the opportunity to live as we are and to have the gospel in our lives.
In conclusion I wish to express a few things for which I am deeply grateful,
I am grateful for the Restoration. I am grateful for prophets, for revelation, for the priesthood, for the
Book of Mormon, and for the fact that I have been privileged to have come to earth during a time when
the gospel and its plan for living are here in their fullness.
I am thankful for my family. For the courage that my parents had to embrace the gospel and join the
church. And also the tremendous courage it took them to start and raise a family in righteousness.
Perhaps most of all, I am deeply grateful for my Savior who made all things possible to me. That through
the Atonement I receive divine power in my life that has cleansed me of sin, and blessed me with the
guiding light of the Holy Ghost. Which throughout my life has truly kept me from snares of the devil and
chains of regret. Has blessed me with pure revelation and with a burning witness of truth.
I will praise his name throughout eternity
I close with a dreadful thought and warning, as Ive read that story of the 10 lepers again and again, its
made a great impression upon me this past week. How would you like to be part of the nine society?
Wouldnt that be somethingto be numbered among those who failed to return and acknowledge the
Savior for the blessings He had given them? Only one returned.
May we shake off our selfishness and more fully recognize and seek the miracles the Lord blesses us
with, that we may be those who return to him.