I awoke this morning, as I do most mornings, with a hymn soaring through my mind. "On This Day of Joy and Gladness" (Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 64.) The first verse reads, in part,
On this day of joy and gladness,
Lord, we praise thy holy name;
In this sacred place of worship,
We thy glories loud proclaim!
Today is truly a day of joy for me as I go over in my mind the many things I have to be grateful for. But the mention of being in a sacred place of worship was a bit puzzling at first. A quick search at LDS.org brought up this quote:
“Temple. One other word is equal in importance to a Latter-day Saint. Home. Put the words holy temple and home together, and you have described the house of the Lord!” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Shield of Faith,” Ensign, May 1995, 8.)
I have been gently urged for the past few months to work at making my home a reflection of the holy temple, a place of peace and order where the Spirit and my family and friends will feel welcome. But I hadn't really thought of our home as an important place of worship before. But my home is where I spend the majority of my waking hours, the place where I have the most influence in the world. It is also the place of greatest gratitude. Most of my worship consists of expressing gratitude for the incredible blessings I have received throughout my life.
I am grateful for my health, for the wondrous ability I have to see and hear the beauties of this world, the health I enjoy that enables me to move, to work and to serve others.
I am grateful for my husband, for his love and concern for my well being. As we near the end of our walk together on the earth, I am grateful for the opportunities I have to serve and care for him. I am also grateful for the knowledge that we can continue our walk together in the future as husband and wife, sealed together for eternity.
I am grateful for our children and grandchildren, who have taught me patience and the importance of unconditional love. Our family consists of people who have struggles and challenges that make them stretch and grow, who don't always know or remember how much they are loved, but who are all on the path, one way or another, back to our Heavenly Father. Raising our children has been my greatest challenge and deepest joy, and in some ways, my deepest sorrow. And that's how it should be, because it's through our family associations that we learn the heights and depths of our own souls. There is nothing in this world more important than the family unit.
I am grateful for my parents and grandparents. They gave me my first lessons in love, gave me the chance to come to this earth and start my mortal journey, and continue to bless my life. They are my guiding lights.
I am grateful for my friends, who have given me shining examples of how to be the person I long to be. They give me opportunities to serve, help me back up when I fall, and strengthen me when I am weak. C.S Lewis said "Friendship is...the sort of love one can imagine between angels." I have been blessed to be in the company of angels throughout my life.
I am grateful to live in this country. I believe the USA was produced through divine intervention, that this is a blessed land for a righteous people. In spite of our shortcomings as a nation, no other place on earth can equal it. We are going through dangerous times now, as we have in the past, but the collective faith of her people will still call down blessings from heaven. We have the greatest freedoms ever accorded a people in the history of the world, which brings upon us the greatest responsibility to guard and share those freedoms with the rest of the human family.
I am grateful most of all for my God, for His love and care for me and my world. This is truly a day of joy and gladness for me as I think about my Savior, His wonderful gift of the Atonement, and His promise of eternal life with my family and friends.
We all have much to be thankful for today. May we all spend some time in reflection on how richly we have been blessed.
I am grateful for my friends, who have given me shining examples of how to be the person I long to be. They give me opportunities to serve, help me back up when I fall, and strengthen me when I am weak. C.S Lewis said "Friendship is...the sort of love one can imagine between angels." I have been blessed to be in the company of angels throughout my life.
I am grateful to live in this country. I believe the USA was produced through divine intervention, that this is a blessed land for a righteous people. In spite of our shortcomings as a nation, no other place on earth can equal it. We are going through dangerous times now, as we have in the past, but the collective faith of her people will still call down blessings from heaven. We have the greatest freedoms ever accorded a people in the history of the world, which brings upon us the greatest responsibility to guard and share those freedoms with the rest of the human family.
I am grateful most of all for my God, for His love and care for me and my world. This is truly a day of joy and gladness for me as I think about my Savior, His wonderful gift of the Atonement, and His promise of eternal life with my family and friends.
We all have much to be thankful for today. May we all spend some time in reflection on how richly we have been blessed.
