Today's way to come unto Christ was by showing gratitude. How often do I tell the Savior that I am grateful for all he does for me? Activity options for the day included saying a prayer and offering only thanks, reading three different scriptural passages, writing a thank you note to Jesus, and making a gratitude collage.
I found the selection of scriptural passages to be very interesting in the context of gratitude. The first passage was Luke 1:46-55. In this passage, Mary is describing the Savior, the man who will be her son. She describes him as "holy," "mighty," and "merciful," and then says that he has "exalted them of low degrees," "filled the hungry with good things." Not the first passage of scripture that comes to mind when I think of gratitude.
The next selection was from Alma 36:3-28. This is Alma the younger speaking to his son Helaman and describing his rebellion, vision, and miraculous conversion. This is such a moving story to me. Alma was going about the destruction of the church, but God, in his infinite mercy and understanding, knew that Alma had the potential to lead people to Christ rather than away from him, and He sent an angel to straighten him out. Alma says for three days he was "racked, even with the pains of a damned soul," his soul "harrowed up by the memory of [his] many sins." But then he remembers the words of his father (also a changed sinner) about the coming of Jesus Christ. He cries out to Christ for mercy and forgiveness, and the pain he feels is swept away. He can remember it no more. He bears testimony of the love and support he feels from Christ, and the sweetness of forgiveness. While not a passage of scripture about gratitude, Alma is certainly grateful for the joy and relief he feels, and I can bear testimony to having had a similar feeling following repentance. As I have tried to give up a particularly sinful behavior, I have felt relief and joy and tremendous gratitude for a loving Father who always gives me another chance.
The third scripture was 1 Samuel 1:11-2:21. This is the story of Hannah who desperately wants a child. She prays and vows to the Lord that if she can have a child, she will dedicate him to the Lord's service. She is "of a sorrowful spirit," until promised by the high priest that God will grant her petition. He does and she bears a son. She says, "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord." I love that phrase. I want my heart to rejoice in the Lord, too. I want to feel that same gratitude for all I have been blessed with. Hannah's sincere thanks lead the Lord to further bless her with three sons and two daughters. Following the frustration and distress of infertility, although it doesn't say as much, I am certain Hannah considered herself miraculously blessed indeed.
I know that as we express gratitude, the Lord will see fit to bless us more. I wrote Jesus a thank you note to be opened on Christmas eve, and I put it on the mantle amidst all the greenery. It wasn't there more than twenty minutes before Blythe brought it to me and said, "Mom, where did this note for Jesus come from? Why is it on the mantle?" I explained that I had written it, that it was a thank you note, and that she needed to put it back. "How will he read it when he isn't here?" she asked, with just a touch of teenage exasperation in her five-year-old voice. "Since Jesus can read the thoughts of our hearts," I said, "he can certainly read the words of my thank you card." She returned it to the mantle.
I did not make a gratitude collage, but I did do my Thanksgiving ABC a couple of weeks ago, and I consider that essentially the same thing. No pictures, but I was certainly thoughtful about it.
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