"Joy and happiness are born of gratitude" (Joseph B. Wirthlin). "Gratitude is twin sister to humility; pride is a foe to both" (James E. Talmage). I composed most of my lesson from a BYU devotional given by Joseph B. Wirthlin titled "Live in Thanksgiving Daily". When my husband and I first moved here, 15 years ago, I was a miserable wretch. Crazy as it may sound, I hated it here and wasn't willing to find anything to like. My biggest gripe at the time was the fact it was Fall and I couldn't find a single tree that was turning the rich reds, oranges or yellows I was accustomed to seeing this time of year. Pining for my homeland, I spent a weekend in Washington and soaked up the beautiful Fall colors. The day after I returned to our apartment in Escondido, I woke up and noticed right outside my bedroom window was a deciduous tree that had turned a beautiful yellow. Why hadn't I seen it before? Why do we often take for granted what is right in front of us? Joseph B Wirthlin said, "Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual. However, the opposite is true as well. The more often we see the things around us - even the beautiful and wonderful things - the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds-even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less. Those who live in Thanksgiving daily..have a way of opening their eyes and seeing the wonders and beauties of this world as thought seeing them for the first time."
Robert Louis Stevenson said, "The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life". May we make it a habit to offer thanksgiving daily for those things we often take for granted. No matter how difficult our circumstances may be or become, an attitude of gratitude lifts our spirits and qualifies us for even more blessings.
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