Gratitude

A few weeks ago, I heard a talk that I loved.  It was about being grateful.  I don't know if it's a consequence of hearing and thinking about this talk or just random timing, but I have been feeling extremely grateful the last little while.  

This is weird, really.  I've always had a hard time being grateful.  I've had countless lessons on having an "attitude of gratitude".  I've tried the gratitude journal thing.  I've been told to count my blessings.  And I've always found a way to continue comparing my life to some elusive standard I see plastered all over the billboards, commercials, magazines, and ads thrown at me everyday.

The fact is that I haven't always been as grateful as I could be.  There have been moments.  Like when I got back from my humanitarian trip to Peru.  My husband and I walked into our small condo and almost kissed our microwave, clean toilet, and fridge.  I felt grateful for a few weeks...and then my thoughts slipped back to what I don't have, what I want, how much money we don't have, let's go shopping aimlessly again...

And right now my life isn't really going like I planned.  See my How this started post.  It's been over a year now since I found out I was pregnant with conjoined twins.  And then the miscarriage.  And the other miscarriage.  Yet, my heart is FULL of gratitude recently.  It's usually for somewhat silly and ordinary stuff.  Walking through the grocery store and picking out fruit and veggies that are fresh and delicious.  Glancing at the mountains on my drive home.  Cooking with spices that come from the other side of the world...isn't that crazy if you sit and think about it?  Spending some serious quality time with my 3-year-old without the distraction of another baby, or morning sickness for that matter.  A small and comfortable house to sleep in while listening to the pounding rain outside.  Am I getting too sappy?

Well, if I am, then read some of this.  These are some of my favorite lines from Dieter Uchtdorf.  HERE is the link to the whole talk if you want to read it.


But some might say, “What do I have to be grateful for when my world is falling apart?”

Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count. True, it is important to frequently “count our blessings”—and anyone who has tried this knows there are many—but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.

It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.

This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.

When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?

Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges.

This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind.

In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless¹³ and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.