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I am very excited to speak to you today on my topic. This is a principle that I would today like
to compare to a kind of prescription drug or nutrient for our spirits, much
like certain vitamins or comparable substances are needed for our physical
bodies. This “nutrient” I’ve been asked
to talk about has received a lot of attention in a number of psychological
research articles published in a variety of journals such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Current Psychology , Positive
Psychology in Practice, Journal
of Personality. According to research by associates of these
journals (1),
If we want to
- reduce symptoms of mild to moderate depression and anxiety,
- increase optimism, vitality, happiness, a sense of well-being, and a greater satisfaction with life,
- Generate more positive memories and remind yourself of the good in your life,
- be viewed as more empathetic and supportive, more forgiving, and more likely to assist others,
- feel less envious and more generous with your possessions,
- enjoy better quality relationships
- find help in coping with adversity,
- find more time spent in physical exercise, and sleep longer and better,
then we must develop the Christ-like attribute of gratitude.
Whenever I hear the word “gratitude,” I think of the 59th
section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
This section was given to those saints who were about to endeavor to
build up Zion in Missouri .
In verse 7 we read, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in
all things.” It is a commandment that
those who wish to be a truly Zion
people must follow.
We read on in verses 15 through 19:
“And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and
countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a
cheerful countenance—
“Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of
the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that
which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;
“Yea, and the herb, and the things
which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment,
or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;
“ Yea, all
things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and
the use of
man, both to please the eye and to gladden the
heart;
“Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for
smell, to strengthen the
body and to enliven the soul.”
Here we observe that an attitude of thankfulness must
accompany every aspect of our gospel living.
Why is that so?
Verse 21 has the answer: “And in nothing doth man offend
God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand
in all things, and obey not his commandments.”
I appreciate how closely this verse associates commandment
keeping with a person’s degree of gratitude.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks in this past conference shared a story
of a woman who “said that she had been asked to come back to church after many
years away but could not think of any reason why she should. To encourage her [he] said, “When you
consider all of the things the Savior has done for us, don’t you have many
reasons to come back to church to worship and serve Him?” [He] was astonished at her reply: “What’s He done for me?” (2) Brothers and
sisters, when we do not have gratitude for the Savior, we won’t find the fuel
to keep His commandments.
We just had the opportunity to partake of the physical
emblems of Christ’s Atonement in this Sacrament meeting. In the prayer for the bread, we witness to
the Father three things—that we are willing to take upon us the name of His
Son, always remember Him, and keep his commandments. Of those three obligations we take on
ourselves in that first prayer, the obligation we take on ourselves to remember
His Son is the only one that carries over into the next sacramental
prayer. Surely, this is an opportunity
of divine design to stop for a brief moment and answer that question, again and
again: “What’s He done for me?” It is no coincidence that in an ordinance
where we renew our covenants with God, in the process of that ordinance we must
take time to remember and feel gratitude for the Savior.
When a person does begin to understand what the Savior has
done for us, and when that person does so on a daily basis, there is a distinct
upswing in that person’s capacity to obey God’s commandments. This is because
they understand the price that has been paid for them to have the opportunity
to enjoy the blessings that they do have.
Allow me a moment to illustrate this principle.
What price tag would you put on the Book of Mormon? I decided to go check Amazon.com to see. You can get a paperback edition for around
$9.00. Does that reflect the book’s true
price, do you think?
Do you think that you can value Lehi’s willingness to leave
all his worldly wealth and possessions in the land of Jerusalem Moroni ’s
endurance in face of seeing their civilization sell themselves to destruction
at nine dollars? Do you think that you
can value centuries of painstaking effort to inscribe Reformed Egyptian
characters onto metal plates at nine dollars? Do you think that you can value a
young Joseph Smith’s sacrifice of his life or the martyrdoms of many others for
the testimony of this great book at nine dollars? Do you think that you can value the impact
this book has had on the people you know that have been influenced by this
book—your investigators, your family, your friends, your church leaders, the
people sitting next to you today—can you value the impact of the Book of Mormon
on these people at nine dollars? Do you
think you can value the feelings you have had, and the decisions you have made
because of those feelings that you have had from this book at nine
dollars? When we are grateful, we
understand that the opportunity to obey a simple command to read the Book of
Mormon is not a grievance but one of the many great bargain deals of a lifetime
that this Church offers us.
In closing, I’d like to share one observation about Mosiah
Chapter 2. Many of you know about the
verses where King Benjamin explains how even if we spent all our days in the
service of God, we could still never pay our debt fully to God. I wish I could say that I had lived the
principle of gratitude as King Benjamin had.
I can only imagine what gratitude feels like on the level of such a spiritual
giant like him. Surely he and others
like him have felt overwhelmed by God’s kindness and mercy to them. Surely they had counted not only the
blessings they had been given, but their cost as well. I think of the words from the hymn:
I stand all amazed at
the love Jesus offers me,
Confused at the grace
that so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that
for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner,
he suffered, he bled and died.
Oh it is wonderful
that he should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh it is wonderful,
wonderful to me!
(Hymn no. 193 “I Stand All Amazed”)
And although King Benjamin’s doctrine on gratitude as found
in Mosiah 2 is absolutely true—we never can say we’ve paid back God in full—I
found wonderful comfort in one verse of scripture that I seemingly had not
fully understood before.
Matthew 25:40 reads:
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my bretheren, ye have done it unto me.”
We can never do for God what He has done for us. But when we do bring the blessings of the
gospel to others—when we reach out of our own comfort zones to touch another
person’s life—surely Christ must share in that feeling of deep gratitude that
is felt by your family, your friends, your investigators for your good life,
for your example to them in keeping God’s commandments.
I am glad I was able to give this talk. I have learned a lot by studying this topic
and realize how infrequently I use it.
But I do know I have much to be grateful for. I know that Christ lives, and that the Church
He leads today on earth is His Church. I
have much to be grateful for. I say this in the
name of Jesus Christ, amen.
(1) “The Value of Experiencing and Expressing Gratitude,” by
Vaughn E. Worthen, PhD, March 2010 Ensign
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