In Gratitude

Today I decided to get up and bear my testimony. I had already felt the little stirrings telling me to do so, but when I glanced over at Ryan's open lesson manual with the title "Strengthening Testimonies By Bearing Them" well, it was game over. That and I figure it might be a while before I get that chance again.

I blubbered the whole time. I will admit that I do often cry a bit when bearing testimony, but this time was worse. I blame, in part, a man who stood a few minutes before I did and told a terribly tragic, but beautiful story that for me, in my weepy, emotional pregnant state, just could not bear. I had to sit there for a while after he sat down to try and let some of the tear spots on my dress dry out before trying to go up. I am not sure why I bothered. I was laughing from embarrassment on my way back to my seat because my poor belly was covered in tears. It's really great at catching things I don't want it too - like food and tears. Oh well.

This year I did not make a list of all the things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving, though I think that it is a very humbling and good activity to do. We really are a blessed people. There is no end to the things that we could and should be thankful for. It's a bummer we only have one holiday devoted to the topic. But today in Fast and Testimony Meeting I felt the desire to talk about this.

The thing I am most grateful for is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a great opportunity we have to spend a holiday with family, thinking about and saying thanks for the many amazing things we have been blessed with. And the most important of them all is Christ.

Ted Henniger

And how wonderful is it, that right after Thanksgiving, we have a whole month to be able to think about, talk about, and focus on the most amazing thing in the world. Christ! Yes, there is a battle for attention with commercialism, but the true meaning of Christmas is at it's very root, Christ.

Simon Dewey

I am humbled to think that everything we have, everything we are is because of this small infant... This miracle of miracles, born in the most humble of circumstances, so tiny and frail, and yet born to save the whole. No ordinary man indeed. Although for my own selfish reasons I desperately do not want my baby to come on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, it has been a neat experience thinking about another baby born some 2000 years ago. Whereas I have all the tools of modern science at my disposal where I will be warm, comfortable, safe, on a bed surrounded my knowledgeable staff and hopefully no pain (thank you anesthesia), Mary had nowhere to go but a stable. Those who attended the birth (that we know of) were Joseph and the animals sharing her quarters. And that precious baby, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords had nothing more than swaddling clothes and a manager to lay in. Although he is deserving of the finest birth surrounded by mounds of gold and every offering the earth has to offer it's King, his humble birth is most fitting for his nature, his mission, and his life.

Joseph Brickey

I found, while going through boxes of things, a project I had started one Thanksgiving many years ago. I cut tan pieces of paper into 2 inch strips and drew the outline of a scroll that would continue on and on when you lined it up. (Think of the classic Santa naughty or nice scroll that unrolls on the floor and continues across the room.) On these pieces of paper I had begun to write all the things I was thankful for. In the end I was going to cut them out, line them up, and post them along the top of my room as a constant reminder for the things that I had been blessed with. It started first, with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Without them, without the plan, nothing else would matter. Nothing. I fear there would be little left to be thankful for because we simply would not exist in this manner. But with them, everything is possible. Everything we have and are. As a basis, as the central point of meaning in our lives, everything else falls into place.

Simon Dewey

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for Christmas. I am thankful for the chance that we have to celebrate the most important thing in the world. I am thankful for the Plan, for our Savior's willingness to come to earth, to live the perfect life and set the perfect example. I am thankful that He died for us - that He died for me. I am so thankful for the Atonement. I am thankful that He rose again from the grave and broke the bonds of death forever. I am thankful for Joseph Smith and for the restoration of the Gospel. I am thankful for the restoration of the keys of the Priesthood, for the temple and for the sealing ordinances that make "forever" not only a possibility, but a reality. I am thankful for the Book for Mormon, for the pioneers who paved the way, for the many sacrifices that were made. I am thankful to belong to a church with a living prophet. When I think of the stories of King Benjamin and how the people came from all over just to hear his words, and then I think of the fact that we have that opportunity every six months at a minimum. A minimum! We are constantly surrounded with opportunities to hear from our prophet and other leaders of the church. In fact, we are able to meet each Sunday to listen, to study, and to learn. We have the truth. We have the knowledge that this life is only a small moment in the grand picture. How grateful I am for that big picture. I am grateful to be here at this time in life. Yes, we have a lot of challenges as the Deceiver is fighting harder than ever to pull us away from where we should be. But this is also a miraculous time. I am grateful to know that because I am here, because I have a body, that shows who's side I chose in the beginning and makes me all the more determined to fight for that side to the very end. I am grateful for life, home, and family. Together with my family, I look forward to the day that we can kneel in front of our Savior and thank Him for making it possible. A simple thanks will never be enough, but I can start now by thanking our Father each and every day - not just on Thanksgiving - for this amazing life that we have, for without Him, we would have nothing at all.