Gratitude

OK - Here's the annual "what I'm thankful for blog". Yes, all of the normal things; wife, children, job, church, health...... But this year maybe something different. Something that only comes to one after fighting a tough battle for a season. Maybe that's why occasionally we are placed in the front lines of battles we would prefer not to fight....to learn wisdom. There's a couple of ways to gain wisdom; Passively by study, meditation and prayer learning from the experiences of others or aggressively by our choices and actions and the consequences that result.

The Lord in his wisdom tells us... "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words" Alma 32:27. Trust and believe me - obey. Or, go find out for yourself - disobey. Life is a combination of the two. Either way, if we are honest with ourselves about the outcome we will gain wisdom.

This Thanksgiving I am particularly grateful for the knowledge that I am truly a child of a living God. That He, as proof of his infinite wisdom, has given me freedom of choice.

If I am a truly a child of a living, loving God, what are my innate abilities and what should I be able to accomplish? The possibilities are unlimited. Unlimited if we view our lives in the eternal perspective. If we view ourselves strictly from a temporal perspective (the perspective that the adversary wants us to adopt) then we confront all sorts of limitations. A short person probably won't excel at basketball. A school teacher probably won't live in a mansion on the hill. Not all of us will be rich and famous. Not all of us will drive a luxury car, sport a 3 carat diamond ring or vacation on the French Riviera. The adversary would have us believe those things are the definition of heaven, Oh, I almost forgot... and looking "tight" in those True Religion jeans. Wow, that's a heaven reserved for less than a speck of humanity if that is the criteria for membership in the kingdom.

As a child of God I am only limited by my ability to make good choices. I have infinite power to do what is in my sphere to control. If I want to be thin I can choose to be thin. If I want to write a book, I can choose to write a book. If I want to be happy and make people around me feel better, I can choose to do so. I may never be a great basketball player..... but does it really matter?

I choose to be better and do better. "Now ye may suppose that this is a foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass;..." Alma 37:6

So I'll start small today.