What is a catalyst? A catalyst is defined as someone or something that causes
or speeds significant change or action.
President Uchtdorf
tells us:
Gratitude is a
catalyst to all Christlike attributes! A thankful heart is the parent of all
virtues. Gratitude to Father in Heaven
broadens our perception and clears our vision.
It inspires humility and fosters empathy toward our fellow-men and all
of God’s creation.
So in order to have
faith, hope, charity, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, obedience and
virtue, we have to first be grateful.
In Matthew, we read
about the Savior expressing gratitude.
32 ¶Then Jesus called
his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because
they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not
send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
33 And
his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the
wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
34 And
Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few
little fishes.
36 And
he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and
gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37 And
they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was
left seven baskets full.
President Monson notes that the Savior gave
thanks for what they had – and a miracle followed. Being grateful is an act of faith in
God. It requires that we trust God and
hope for things we may not see but which are true. True gratitude is an expression of hope and
testimony. It comes from acknowledging that we do not always understand the
trials of life but trusting one day we will.
In his talk Grateful in Any Circumstance,
President Uchtdorf says we need to understand that everyone’s
situation is different, and the details of each life are unique... but there is
one thing that we can ALL do to take away the bitterness that may come into our
lives; we can be grateful. When we set
aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude we can
find a purifying drink of healing, peace and understanding.
Being grateful in times of distress does not
mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith
we look beyond our present-day challenges.
When we are grateful to God in our
circumstances (whatever they are), we can experience gentle peace in the midst
of tribulations. Even in grief, we can
(and should) lift up our hearts in praise.
We read and study in our scriptures and in
church history about people who continually struggled in adversity and yet,
were grateful in their circumstances.
Recently, I finished a book that talked about
the Martin Handcart company. It was a
great opportunity for me to take some time and think about the sacrifices of my
pioneer ancestors. This book brought to my mind the words to the hymn, “Come,
Come Ye Saints.” The original title given to the song by William Clayton was
“All is Well.” I want to read a few
lines that always touch me when I sing this song... and I’m paraphrasing a bit
here...
Come, come, ye Saints, no
toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this
journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
All is well!
Why should we mourn or
think or think our lot is hard?
‘Tis not so; all is right.
We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell--
All is well! All is well!
And should we die before
our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil
and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall
dwell!
But if our lives are spared
again
To see the Saints their
rest obtain;
Oh, how, we’ll make this
chorus swell –
All is well! All is well!
Even when life was hard, really hard, the
pioneers were grateful in their circumstances.
They made the best of a very trying situation.
President Uchtdorf
gave a talk commemorating pioneers and I loved it so I’m just going to share it with you.
It is one of the great
ironies of our age that we are blessed with so much and yet we can be so
unhappy. The wonders of prosperity and technology overwhelm us and shower us
with security, entertainment, instant gratification, and convenience. And yet
all around us we see so much unhappiness.
How many people do you know
who are truly happy? Can you say the same for yourself?
The pioneers, those
wonderful souls who sacrificed so much, went without and hungered for even the
most basic of necessities to survive. The pioneers understood something about
happiness. They understood that happiness doesn’t come as a result of luck or
accident. It most certainly doesn’t come from having all of our wishes come
true. Happiness doesn’t come from external circumstance. It comes from
the inside—regardless of what is happening around us.
If they were here with us
today there is no doubt in my mind that they would tell us we can be gloriously
happy even if our favorite TV show is cancelled, traffic comes to a crawl, the
rain spoils our picnic, or the fast food worker forgot to include straws or
packets of ketchup at the drive-through window.
I do not need to tell you
stories of pioneer tribulations or the deprivations they faced. I do not need
to tell you of how they went without food, how they suffered in sickness,
endured heat and cold, and how they tearfully buried their loved ones in
shallow graves.
And yet, listen! Can you
hear them? Can you hear their voices singing? “We’ll make the air with music
ring, shout praises to our God and King.”
Oh, what inspiration we can
take from this.
When we complain about a
Church meeting that has gone four minutes over its allotted time, perhaps we
can hear the voices of those blessed pioneers: “Why should we mourn or think
our lot is hard? 'Tis not so; all is right.”
When we cover our face with
our hands and complain that someone else got the promotion, someone else got
the part, someone else got the biggest slice of pizza, it might be helpful to
remind ourselves that there is a difference between the profound and
trivial.
The pioneers sang, “But if
our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain, oh, how we’ll
make this chorus swell—all is well! All is well!”
So often our excuses for
not being happy are in reality trivial and vain, as though we are looking for a
reason to be at odds with the world—as though we want to prove somehow that we
cannot experience joy.
The pioneers knew that the
things around them did not determine their happiness, but the things within
most certainly did. And with that spirit they found happiness in every
circumstance and in every trial—even in those trials that reached down and
troubled the deep waters of their very souls.
I would add... giving thanks, usually
multiple times a day, was critical to their experience. Just like we read about Jesus and feeding the
multitudes, the early Saints gave thanks, and miracles followed.
We can choose to be grateful, no matter what. The Lord has given us His promise that those
“who receive all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the
things of this earth shall be added unto them, even an hundred fold, yea,
more.”
President Monson says:
Regardless of our
circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but
pause and contemplate our blessings.
This is a wonderful time to
be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are
many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents
who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and
help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways.
We can lift ourselves and
others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and
cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be
numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the
noblest of virtues.
Finally, I have a
quote on my fridge that I love. It is by
Jenkin Lloyd Jones and was often quoted by President Hinckley.
“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of
time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most
putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people,
most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most
jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail
journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed
only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick
is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”
I know that not
only will we be happier when we make the choice to be grateful in our
circumstances, but that we will truly be able to be an instrument in the hands
of the Lord and be able to follow Christ’s example.
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