Over the years, I have had the sacred opportunity
to meet with many people whose sorrows
seem to reach the very depths of their soul.
In these moments I have listened to my beloved brothers
and sisters and grieved with them over their burdens.
I've pondered what to say to them,
and I have struggled to know how to comfort
and support them in their trials.
Often their grief is caused by what
seems to them as an ending.
Some are facing the end of a cherished relationship,
such as the death of a loved one or estrangement from a family
member.
Others feel they are facing the end of hope--the hope of being
married or bearing children or overcoming an illness.
Others may be facing the end of their faith
as confusing and conflicting voices in the world
tempt them to question, even abandon,
what they once knew to be true.
Sooner or later, I believe that all of us
experience times when the very fabric of our world
tears at the seams, leaving us feeling alone,
frustrated, and adrift.
It can happen to anyone.
No one is immune.
Everyone's situation is different,
and the details of each life are unique.
Nevertheless, I have learned that there
is something that will take away the bitterness that
may come into our lives.
There's one thing we can do to make life sweeter, even
joyful, and even glorious.
We can be grateful.
It might sound contrary to the wisdom of the world
to suggest that one who is burdened with sorrow
should give thanks to God.
But those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift
instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink
of healing, peace, and understanding.
As disciples of Christ, we're commanded
to "thank the Lord [our] God in all things,"
to "sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving,"
and to "let [our] heart be full of thanks unto God."
Why does God command us to be grateful?
All of His commandments are given
to make blessings available to us.
Commandments are opportunities to exercise our agency
and to receive blessings.
Our loving Heavenly Father knows that choosing
to develop a spirit of gratitude will
bring us true joy and great happiness.
But some might say, "What do I have
to be grateful for when my world is falling apart?"
Perhaps focusing on what we're 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 that 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 a 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
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.
There's an old story of a waiter who
asked a customer whether he had enjoyed the meal.
The guest replied that everything was fine,
but it would have been better if they had served more bread.
The next day, when the man returned,
the waiter doubled the amount of bread,
giving him four slices instead of two.
But still the man was not happy.
The next day, the waiter doubled the bread again,
without success.
On the fourth day, the waiter was really
determined to make the man happy.
And so he took a nine-foot-long loaf of bread, cut it in half,
and, with a smile, served that to the customer.
The waiter could scarcely wait for the man's reaction.
After the meal, the man looked up and said, "Good as always,
but I see you're back to giving only two slices of bread."
My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours.
We can choose to limit our gratitude, based
on the blessings we feel we lack.
Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart
never faltered.
When this brothers tied him up on the ship--which he had built
to take them to the promised land--his ankles and wrists
were so sore "they had swollen exceedingly,"
and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths
of the sea. "Nevertheless," Nephi said,
"I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day
long; and I did not murmur against the Lord
because of mine afflictions."
We can choose to be like Job, who seemed to have everything
but then lost it all.
Yet Job responded by saying; "Naked [I came] out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return ...:
the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord."
We can choose to be like the Mormon pioneers who maintained
a spirit of gratitude during their slow and painful trek
toward the Great Salt Lake, even singing
and dancing and glorifying in the goodness of God.
Many of us would have been inclined
to withdraw, to complain, and to agonize
about the difficulties of the journey.
We can choose to be like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who,
while a prisoner in miserable conditions in Liberty Jail,
penned these inspired words: "Dearly beloved brethren,
let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power;
and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance,
to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
We can choose to be grateful, no matter what.
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're 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're 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.
Being grateful in our circumstances
is an act of faith in God.
It requires that we trust God and hope for things
we may not see but which are true.
By being grateful, we follow the example
of our beloved Savior, who said, "Not my will, but thine,
be done."
True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony.
It comes from acknowledging that we do not always
understand the trials of life but trusting that one day we
will.
In any circumstance, our sense of gratitude
is nourished by the many and sacred truths we do know:
that our Father has given His children the great plan
of happiness; that through the Atonement of His Son, Jesus
Christ, we can live forever with our loved ones; that in the end
we will have glorious, perfect, and immortal bodies, unburdened
by sickness or disability; and that our tears of sadness
and loss will be replaced with an abundance of happiness
and joy, "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together,
and running over."
It must have been this kind of testimony
that transformed the Savior's Apostles from fearful, doubting
men to fearless, joyful emissaries of the Master.
In the hours following His Crucifixion,
they were consumed with despair and grief, unable to understand
what had just happened.
But one event changed all of that.
Their Lord appeared to them and declared,
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself."
When the Apostles recognized the risen Christ--when they
experienced the glorious Resurrection of their beloved
Savior--they became different men.
Nothing could keep them from fulfilling their mission.
They accepted with courage and determination
the torture, humiliation, and even death
that would come to them because of their testimony.
They were not deterred from praising and serving
their Lord.
They changed the lives of people everywhere.
They changed the world.
You do not need to see the Savior,
as the Apostles did, to experience
the same transformation.
Your testimony of Christ, born of the Holy Ghost,
can help you look pass the disappointing endings
in mortality and see the bright future
that the Redeemer of the world has prepared.
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 Endless and who promises eternal blessings
without number.
Endings are not our destiny.
The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the more we realize that endings here in mortality
are not endings at all.
They are merely interruptions--temporary pauses
that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy
awaiting the faithful.
How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan
there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings.
Brothers and sisters, have we not
reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless
of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?
Do we need any greater reason to let our hearts "be full
of thanks unto God"?
"Have we not great reason to rejoice?"
How blessed we are if we recognize God's handiwork
in the marvelous tapestry of life.
Gratitude to our Father in Heaven broadens our perception
and clears our vision.
It inspired humility and fosters empathy toward our fellowmen
and all of God's creation.
Gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes.
A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.
The Lord has given us His promise that those
"who [receive] all things with thankfulness
shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth
shall be added unto [them]."
May we "live in thanksgiving daily"--especially during
the seemingly unexplainable endings that are part
of mortality.
May we allow our souls to expand in thankfulness
toward our merciful Heavenly Father.
May we ever and constantly raise our voices and show by word
and deed our gratitude to our Father
in Heaven and His Beloved Son, even Jesus Christ.
For this I pray, and leave you my testimony and blessing,
in the sacred name of our Master, even Jesus Christ,
amen.