Thanksgiving

I was able to attend a lovely Thanksgiving feast this week.

After our fill of turkey and sweet potato and pumpkin pie we filled boxes full of donations for care packs for DV connect (a domestic violence help centre)

We were humbled after a slideshow about the work they do. They are the busiest Domestic Violence Help Centre in the whole of Australia! It felt so good to contribute to the work they do.

This week everyone seems thinking about gratitute, thanks and blessings.

Even though I'm not American and don't really celebrate thanksgiving it's still a good time to reflect upon this just before the busy season jumps upon us.

I've read several posts this week about Gratitude with these ones being my favourite
Gratitude is not just about saying Thankyou
Gift of a Grateful Heart
All this and the Gospel too!

I'm always trying to better. I know I need an improved view on gratitude and thanks. Sometimes its just too easy to become relaxed with it. To feel we deserve more and to step on anyone to get it.

In prayer we thank the Lord every day: thanks for this food, thanks for our family, thanks for our happy little lives, thanks when everything is going well. How to have a better take on it it?

I loved the above article  Gratitude is more thank saying thanks. She spoke about Joseph from the bible: he gave thanks for all that he had while denying potiphars wife who was making advancements on him. We too can learn from this example.

I am thankful for so much... how can I do this______ thing?

What a great mantra we should have in our lives when decision making. When we chose wrongly or unwisely we are being ungrateful. When laying out decisions before ourselves it would be interesting to lay out all our blesssings first then add the decision/thing we want/ what we are doing to the end. I wonder if it would make us think differently, sway our decisions?


All this and gospel too was an interesting story of Elder Joseph F. Smith visiting the old Oneida Stake of Zion and arranging to take a meal at the home of Elder Benson’s grandfather. In telling the story, his Grandfather said that they were seated in the dining room of the farm home. The table was laden with good things to eat. The family was gathered around. Just before they were ready to start the meal, President Smith stretched his long arms over the table and turned to his grandfather and said,


“Brother Benson, all this and the gospel too?”

This is a wonderful way to look at what meagre blessing we might have. We might not have much going good in our lives, but there is always something! Look at a small blessing and think... ALL THIS! and the gospel too!

Perhaps if we insert this saying into everything it would also sway our thinking! ALL THIS! I have ALL THIS and the GOSPEL TOO! Miraculous! When we garnish our thoughts with such positive thinking our hearts will surely be changed. We would be changed so much that we would always be willing to share, to give, to know we have bounteous blessings placed upon us!

I've seen several bloggers taking part in a 1000 blessings challenge based on this book : One Thousand Gifts . Basically whenever you see a blessing write it down. Try to get to one thousand different things.

A few years back instead of keeping a daily journal I kept a gratitude journal. Just to jot down 3-4 things I was grateful for that day. I wasn't always successful but I tried really hard to think of different things each day. After seeing part of someones list a few weeks ago I was reminded that I should try it again.

I've bought a little notebook and I'm going to start with some blessings.

It's been said that the more you look for happiness, little pleasures and joys the more full your life becomes. Funny that hey? A little gratitude certainly DOES go a long way.

A large body of recent work has suggested that people who are more grateful have higher levels of well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships. Grateful people also have higher levels of control of their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self acceptance.^[24] Grateful people have more positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being more likely to seek support from other people, reinterpreted and grow from the experience, and spend more time planning how to deal with the problem.^[25] Grateful people also have less negative coping strategies, being less likely to try to avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope through substance use.^[25] Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less negative and more positive thoughts just before going to sleep.  ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratitude}


Allport (1950) suggested that mature religious intentions come from feelings of profound gratitude and Edwards (1746) claimed that the “affection” of gratitude is one of the most accurate ways of finding the presence of God in a person’s life.

How interesting! I've always thought gratitude important to develop. But perhaps it is most important! IT seems ones very health and devotion to God will rely upon our depth of gratitude!


This past week here are a couple things I was grateful for:

::  A wonderful cool breeze blowing around (my hot un airconditioned) house. I was clucking around (cleaning/cooking/wandering) like I usually am and decided that I should sit and read and enjoy the wonderful breeze instead.

:: I rarely go down the narrow soggy side of my house. But I was out there looking at the cool damp green area covered in clover and it actually looked very inviting. I was dreaming of dragging a big overstuffed chair out there or a blanket and enjoying a lie down. It gave me pleasure to think in a positive light an unused side of my yard.

::The way my littlest daughter runs with her hands bunched tight with a side to side motion looking like a little old granny trying to run melts my heart. I realised that this time is short and she won't run like a pudgy little funny thing forever

::The joy of having my girls sit on my lap as we sewed christmas pillowcases together. It's great to be loved and needed and to actually have a skill I am teaching and passing on down to them.

:: When I came home from said Thanksgiving feast my kitchen was clean and sparkling and scrubbed. My heart was joyous to come home to a polished kitchen. Thanks to my darling husband



How do you express gratitude? How do you improve your thankfulness? Any tips to share?


Some Scripture References to start you on your journey


Alma 34:38  Live in thanksgiving daily
Phillippians 4:6 With thanksgiving let your requests be made known
Psalms 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving
D&C 46:7 Doing all things with Prayer and thanksgiving
D&C:78:19 He who receive all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious