Monday, November 1, 2010

Motivational Monday - "“Be Grateful”

Edited from Caroline H. Benzley, “Be Grateful,” New Era, Mar 2002, 37

Your lives are filled with difficult decisions and with dreams and hopes and longings to find that which will bring you peace and happiness,” President Hinckley said.

To help us make these decisions President Hinckley presented his list of nine B’s—Be grateful, Be smart, Be clean, Be true, Be humble, Be prayerful, Be positive, Be involved, Be still..
“Let a spirit of thanksgiving guide and bless your days and nights,” said President Hinckley. Be grateful was the first of his nine B’s. He encouraged us to incorporate gratitude into our daily lives. “Work at it,” he said. “You will find it will yield wonderful results.”

Walk with gratitude in your hearts

Sometimes it is easy to miss the wonderful blessings that surround us. But as we live with a spirit of thanksgiving we will be able to see how the Lord has blessed us.

“Walk with gratitude in your hearts,” President Hinckley said. “Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours.”
Brittany Winberg, from Idaho Falls, Idaho, followed President Hinckley’s counsel. She found that living with a spirit of gratitude does in fact yield wonderful results.

“My mother had prepared a special Sunday dinner after the fireside, and I went into the kitchen to help her with the dishes afterward. While in the kitchen I felt a stinging prompting, remembered the prophet’s words about gratitude, and humbly said, ‘Mom, thank you so much for everything; you are the greatest.’ She looked at me and tears welled up in her eyes and she grabbed me in a tight embrace. She then told me how horrible her day was and that I had done exactly what she had been praying for.”

Let them know you’re grateful
President Hinckley reminded us that saying thank you to parents is also very important. Our parents deserve to hear that we are grateful for them and for their efforts in our behalf. Expressing gratitude will not only help our parents feel appreciated and loved, but also it will increase our love for them. One young woman applied President Hinckley’s advice to her relationship with her mother.

“In my life it is hard for me to understand my mom. Sometimes I don’t feel like she truly loves me. I know she does, but sometimes I do not feel it.

“Well, as I was listening to President Hinckley speak he said, ‘Be grateful.’ It was like he stepped out of the TV, grabbed me by the shoulders, and said, ‘’Show your mom you are thankful for her!’ I thought to myself, No we are doing fine. The feeling stayed there, so I got on my knees and cried. I asked for so much strength. I decided I needed to be more humble. I got up my courage and saved my money. Then I bought some flowers and on the card I wrote: ‘You’re the greatest mom in the world. I love you.’

“My mom really is the best. She does everything for me and only wants the best for me, and now I feel like we are real friends. We can talk about most things. It is going to be a long road, but I know that I will make it and all because I was thankful.”
Sixteen-year-old Jacob Maughan found that it just takes a moment of reflection to realize how much our parents do for us.

“After hearing President Hinckley’s talk I realized that my parents have given me all that I now have. I need to thank them daily and love them for what they have done for me. I need to tell them now that I love them.

Being grateful means not only being thankful but also being respectful and responsible for the things that I have. It means cleaning up my mess and respecting not only my parents, but all my brothers and sisters. I need to be more grateful for God the Eternal Father and for Jesus and all He has done.”
“Thank the Almighty for His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who has done for you what none other in all this world could do,” President Hinckley said. “Thank Him for His great example, for His tremendous teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help. Think about the meaning of His Atonement.”
We all have many things to be thankful for. We are a blessed people because we have the knowledge of the true gospel. As we strive to follow President Hinckley’s suggestion to Be grateful, our relationships with others, as well as our relationships with our Heavenly Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, will greatly improve.
I am thankful for a great mother. She has done so much for me and my brothers and sisters. I love you Mom!

2 comments:

Zoey said...

What a wonderful post!

Connie said...

Sondra,
Thanks for posting this. I need to submit the RS Presidency message in our ward newsletter for November. I was thinking along these lines, and you have it here, ready to put my thoughts in to it.
Have a wonderful day!

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