Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving a day set aside in my country to remember all that we have to be thankful for. In my life I have been so blessed to have so much. I was born into the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints where I have been taught about God's love for me and how to have peace in life. I am also very blessed to be part of a wonderful family that loves me very much and have always been a great support. I've been blessed with health and education. I am so grateful for all that I have been given. I know that it is all because there is a merciful God who know's each of us and loves us all.

In Thanksgivings past, I've sat with my family relaxing and eating as much food as I could possibly squeeze into my stomach. This Thanksgiving has been different. I arise early, get ready for the day and do my usual scripture studies. We then leave to go serve people a thanksgiving lunch who would not have had the means of providing one themselves. I feel a sense of gratitude come over me that I have been blessed with food throughout my life. We then go to a veterans care center to sing to them and lift there spirits. We begin with Christmas music and then branched into patriotic songs not usually associated with the day of Thanksgiving. I thought it was an odd choice at first. Then I remembred where I was, at a vetrerans home where so many had given so much so we could have the freedoms that we enjoy today. Freedom of religion, Freedom of speech, freedom to chose what we want to study and how we want to live our lives. What better songs is there to sing than the familiar My Country 'tis Of Thee or The Star-Spangled Banner? What a blessing it is to live in this Country and to enjoy the freedoms that many have given there lives for us to have.

As we remember our blessings we are happier people. I remember growing up when I was feeling a sad or discouraged my very wise mother would give me a hug and happily say "lets play the thankful game!". The rules to this game were simple. Each person takes turns saying one thing that they were grateful for. We would play one person would say "I'm grateful for food" the next would say "I'm grateful for water" it would go on and slowly the bad feelings would start to dissipate,  the gratitude would take over and the bad day was turned into a happy one.

In the Bible in the book of Ephesians 5:20 it says  "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." When we are grateful to God for the things that we have we remember that we are loved. We remember that we have been blessed by a loving God. I know that as we look for the blessings in our lives we will be happier.