2014 - A Year of Gratitude

My Dear Family,

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." Oprah couldn't have said it any better. It seems we live in a day and age where there's never enough for us to truly be happy. If only we had more, life would be grand. We end up living life in the future while ruminating about the past, and we don't concentrate on the here and now. Since there is no way to change the past, and no way to ever live in the future, a lot of our today's are wasted. And that is a shame.

As I sang the fist line of the second verse of our closing hymn in church today, tears began to flow and I felt the Lord had found way into my heart. "More gratitude give me, More trust in the Lord," . . . I couldn't sing another word. My heart was softened and my mind was opened and over the course of the rest of the hymn, I felt my life turn in a new direction.

For more years than I can count, I have concentrated on enough. When I'm thin enough, when there is enough money, when I have enough time, when I'm smart enough, the list goes on and on and on. I envy others "with their lands and gold" and loathe my own situation. I see everything I don't have or can't do and rarely look at what I do have and what I can do. Somewhere I lost my gratitude, and at the same time, I stopped trusting in the Lord. Oh, I remember the prescribed way to pray and always say I'm thankful for this or that, but then I begin the long list of wishes, desires and demands. Instead of feeling like I have communed with heaven when I get up off my knees, I feel little at all. 

Could gratitude be the key to feeling closer to Heavenly Father? And could trust in the Lord be the key to gratitude? I'm not exactly sure, but I'm going to experiment this year with that concept. 

I declare the year 2014 The Year of Gratitude and Trust in the Lord. 

I will spend time each day looking around for those things with which I have been blessed and I will write them down and then take them to the Lord in prayer. I will trust that He knows what I need in order to fulfill the mission he sent me here to perform. I will trust that he knows and loves each of my children, parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends more than I can fully understand, and he knows what each of them needs. I will trust Him to guide and direct me in my relationships so they can grow and be strenghthened.

"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more" (D&C 78:19). " . . . he who receiveth all things with thankfulness . . . " All things. All things! Even trials and tribulations? Maybe so. That may sound contradictory, but I think of it like this: I wouldn't want to be widowed again, but I wouldn't trade all I have learned since that horrible night. Through great adversity, I grew and learned and found my testimony. So this year I will be grateful for all things, no matter how difficult they may be. 

And what do I hope to gain? The feeling of enough so that I can be content with what I have here and now. Trust in the Lord that He can and will do all He has promised. Gratitude for family, friends, work, home, body and mind, talents, gifts and learning. I hope by the end of 2014 I feel my life is full, and although not yet perfected, perfect for me.

I challenge each of you to take this year to strive to live a life of gratefulness as you learn to trust in the Lord. He loves us all and I believe He rejoices when we find the good and the blessings in our lives. It is my prayer that each of us will face the challenges of 2014 with gratitude in our hearts for each day we are allowed to awaken and breathe the breath of a new day. "Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more." And may I add that it will be enough.

Love,

Mom