LDS Family.net

Since the beginning of time, man has been searching for happiness. From the time Adam and Eve where on the earth, down to our day and the advent of the internet, we have been looking for happiness. Even in our declaration of independence it says it is one of our inalienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
From Wall Street, to Sporting Events, to our homes and toys, we are all looking for that one thing that will make us happy.

In the Wizard of Oz, the story of Dorothy and the 3 characters Tin man, Scarecrow, Lion with her discovered how to get true happiness. Happiness is found within, not from without. What if it was just that easy. Nothing dramatic, nothing painful, just a conscious decision to look at your world a little differently. The good news is that you do have power to find happiness. Regardless of your age, religion, financial circumstances, you have the power to be happy. It all starts with giving thanks. Being thankful can actually make you happier.

Entitlement society
Americans enjoy an unprecedented standard of living. In the last 50 years the average family has acquired more and fancier cars, better houses, and more stuff. But more doesn’t mean happier. The number of Americans who say they are “Very Happy “has dropped from 35% to 30% over that time period.

What is interesting is that, after financial stability has been achieved, more money doesn’t equal greater happiness.

Parents have non profit – saw a need to help others
I served a mission in Colombia and Ecuador. When I was done, they came to visit.
I took them to all of the areas, the wealthy, the very poor.
On returning, my Dad began to see the need to help the poor in the world. He has built a foundation to do that. Several times a year, he organizes project to Mexico and South American Countries.
One of the things that drives my father, I believe, is the chance to have young and old, experience the poverty of a third world country. Service projects to Mexico show young people how the rest of the world lives and they are more thankful for what they have. The youth and adults that participate in these projects come home with a new sense of gratitude for their homes, their lives, and their country.
It is always interesting to see that even though the people of 3rd world countries are poor, they are still happy, and may even be more happy than we are with all of our STUFF.

In my mind, we have all won the lottery. What are the odds? Born at this time, in this place in this church. We already won.
How many of you have one TV, 2 TV’s
1 Car, 2 Cars, 3 Cars
Radio, ipod, dvd, flat screen TV
The majority of the earth’s people don’t have these things.

Mormon Messages is a LDS church sponsored website where the church creates videos with religious content. There messages are uploaded to YouTube and spread around the internet using links, facebook and twitter.
It Can be found on LDS Family.net – More Good Foundation (shameless plug)

This month, the message was “in the spirit of thanksgiving”. The video is based on Elder Dallen H. Oaks General Conference Report April 06, 2003.

It starts by showing regular people on the streets of New York City. Each of the people in the video were asked one simple question. What are you thankful for? Most of the people are thankful for the same things like their health, their family, their friends.
BUT, one guy was thankful when he gets a seat on the subway, or when there isn’t a fight on the subway. It was pretty comical but why aren’t we more thankful like him? Lets me thankful for more specific things.

I try to remember to be thankful. When I come home from playing church basketball, I try to remember to be thankful that I have a healthy body that allows me to play a sport that I really enjoy. Sometimes I even vocalize it out loud, which is a little goofy, but it makes me feel good inside. I would rather be thankful without discovering it through adversity.

In Elder Oaks’ talk he talked about being thankful for commandments. aren’t they restrictions? He states, “They (Commandments) are directions away from pitfalls, and they are invitations to blessings. Commandments mark the path and show us the way to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.
To demonstrate the point, I made up a fictitious story about a little 5 year old boy. His mother told him that he could play outside with his football, but he could not go out in the street. When faced with this “commandment”, he felt restricted to what he could do. The yard was small and there were trees and bushed blocking his way, the street would be a whole lot more fun. However, lets say he did decide to go out in the street, there was a higher probability that he would be hit by a car. So, this commandment was direction away from pitfalls, or danger. I hope we can look at commandments more like directions away from pitfalls and invitations to blessings

Clark Draney’s Blog – Have you ever given more than you can afford?

How do you SHOW the Lord that you are grateful and thankful? We can pray and give thanks and we can show in action that we are thankful.

Rachael
Gives of her abundance: She could have a garage sale, she could sell stuff on eBay or Craig’s list, but to show her gratitude, she lists her stuff on freecycle.org. Give of your abundance even if you don’t feel like you have an abundance. You may not be blessed with wealth, but you will be blessed with happiness. At our house, we have an abundance of socks. For some reason, our kids leave their socks wherever they are standing. Maybe I should list our abundance of socks on freecycle.org?

Story: My sister had a bunk bed that they no longer used. The bunk bed was given to her as a gift. She could have easily put it up for sell on craig’s list and made some money, instead, she listed it on freecycle.org and gave it to a family that needed it. A week after a family had picked up the bunk bed, she received a letter in the mail from the 15 year old boy thanking her for the bunk bed. Both sided of this event were blessed and rewarded. My sister received a heart felt thank you from the family, that the family received a well needed bed.

Thank you letters – When I was younger, we had “up with people” stay at our house. Almost every time, the students staying at our house would leave a little gift and a note that thanked us for letting them stay in our house.

Oaks: I love the musical and motion picture Fiddler on the Roof. There a wonderful Jewish father sings “If I Were a Rich Man.” His memorable prayer concludes with this pleading question:
Lord, who made the lion and the lamb,
You decreed I should be what I am;
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan,
If I were a wealthy man?
(Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick [1964])
Yes, Tevye, it might. Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality.

Becoming a millionaire – When I become a millionaire, I will start giving back. Start giving back now, get in the habit of giving.
I was stingy about giving and I still am a little bit. This book taught me to put away a little money each month for giving. Now, when I am asked to give, I have money set apart for just that reason and I have a more giving heart when I give. Set apart some money every paycheck for giving.

Elder Oaks goes on to explain: In one of the times of spiritual and temporal adversity recorded in the Book of Mormon, when the people of God were “suffering all manner of afflictions,” the Lord commanded them to “give thanks in all things” (Mosiah 26:38–39). I wish to apply that teaching to our time.

The children of God have always been commanded to give thanks. There are examples throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Apostle Paul wrote, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:18). The prophet Alma taught, “When thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God” (Alma 37:37). And in modern revelation the Lord declared that “he who receivth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold” (D&C 78:19)

We have so much for which to give thanks. First and foremost, we are thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ. Under the plan of the Father, He created the world. Through His prophets, He revealed the plan of salvation with its accompanying commandments and ordinances. He came into mortality to teach and show us the way. He suffered and paid the price for our sins if we would repent. He gave up His life, and He conquered death and rose from the grave that we all will live again. He is the Light and Life of the World. As King Benjamin taught, if we “should render all the thanks and praise which [our] whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created [us], and has kept and preserved [us], and … should serve him with all [our] whole souls yet [we] would be unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:20–21).

The revelations, for which we are grateful, show that we should even give thanks for our afflictions because they turn our hearts to God and give us opportunities to prepare for what God would have us become. The Lord taught the prophet Moroni, “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble,” and then promised that “if they humble themselves … and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27)

When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life. We are sent here to be tested.

Lets try to be more thankful in our lives. Not just the normal, run of the mill thank you’s.
When I was younger, I always wanted to look older. I have always look about 10 years younger than I am. So, when I was 10, of course, I looked like a toddler. When I was 18, I looked 8. I still have that feeling but recently I noticed that my hair was receding. All of a sudden I realized, that if I was to look older, I would need to lose my hair. I quickly changed my mind and decided to keep my hair but I would look younger. I guess the older I get, the more of a blessing it is to look young.

Let’s be more grateful for what we have. Lets be specific in our thankfulness. I am thankful for a loving beautiful wife and wonderful children. I am grateful that they are making wise choices in their lives and following the commandments. I am grateful that I have a job during this downturn in the economy. I’m not a millionare yet, but I am grateful that we have enough and even a small abundance. I hope to be able to share more of our abundance.

I am thankful for the sacrifice that was made for me. I am thankful for the Lord and his teachings that continually give me directions away from pitfalls, and that are invitations to blessings.

Let us all remember to be thankful for what we have and where we are so that we can focus on our blessings and make the conscious choice to be happy.

One Response to “Talk on Giving Thanks”