Gratitude – An Act of Faith

Here in the U.S. we just celebrated the Thanksgiving Holiday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, not because we get the day off work to gorge ourselves on turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and other favorite foods; but because we get to spend it with family and friends. This year was smaller than most. Our daughter and her two boys came while our boys and their families visited their in-laws or had sick children and could not go “over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house”. The biggest reason that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday is because we pause to reflect on all the blessings we have in our lives and express our gratitude to Heavenly Father for those blessings. In the scriptures, we read that God is offended when we “confess not his hand in all things” (D&C 59:21).

I am sure there are many who wonder if there is anything to be grateful for considering the state of our society and our political situation. People are protesting the presidential election saying that we have no hope. I have seen posts in social media by celebrities saying they would leave the country or hope to die rather than live with our new president. Anyone who has these feelings need to stop the negativity and look for the good in their lives. If we look hard enough and have a prayerful heart we will begin to recognize we still have so much to be thankful for.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught that we should be grateful not for things but be thankful not matter what our circumstances are. He said:

“It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

“Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.” (“Grateful in Any Circumstances”, General Conference, April 2014)

Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told a story of a family who lived in Canada on a farm. They worked hard for what they had and they were blessed through hard work to have what they needed. One year though was different. The rains left their fields too wet for the crops to grow and they had to sell most of their livestock to buy food for the winter. That year electricity finally came to their home for the first time and they did not have to use oil lanterns for light any more. He continued the story:

“On Thanksgiving morning, however, Gordon’s father showed up with a jackrabbit and asked his wife to cook it. Grudgingly she started the job, indicating it would take a long time to cook that tough old thing. When it was finally on the table with some of the turnips that had survived, the children refused to eat. Gordon’s mother cried, and then his father did a strange thing. He went up to the attic, got an oil lamp, took it back to the table, and lighted it. He told the children to turn out the electric lights. When there was only the lamp again, they could hardly believe that it had been that dark before. They wondered how they had ever seen anything without the bright lights made possible by electricity.

“The food was blessed, and everyone ate. When dinner was over, they all sat quietly. Wrote Gordon:

“In the humble dimness of the old lamp we were beginning to see clearly again. …

“It [was] a lovely meal. The jack rabbit tasted like turkey and the turnips were the mildest we could recall. …

“… [Our] home …, for all its want, was so rich [to] us.”

“My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.” (“The Devine Gift of Gratitude”, General Conference, October 2010)

Whatever the circumstances that surround us, we have so many blessings to be thankful for. We have our family, friends, neighbors, and most of us have plenty of food and shelter. Even if we lack some of these things we can still find many things that we can express gratitude for we just need to look for them.

One of the best ways to live with gratitude in all circumstances is to look for people that do not radiate gratitude as we go through each day. If we see someone that looks down, brighten their day by saying hello or even a simple smile can change their day. Look for someone a work, at church, in line at the grocery store and needs help and help them.

The scriptures teach that when we lose ourselves in serving others we will find ourselves (Matthew 16:24-26). Living with gratitude for all we have and expressing gratitude to the Lord for all he has done for us will allow the light of Christ to shine in our countenances and sharing that light with others will brighten their lives. Living with gratitude is an act of faith and something that we all need to do.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

One Bad Call

Last night my grandson and I attended the Utah State University football game against New Mexico. It was an exciting game that as usual had lots of fantastic runs, pass receptions and touchdowns from both teams. USU lead most of the game and we thought they would come away with a much needed win. With only minutes left in the game New Mexico scored a field goal and took the lead. The Aggies had one-minute left to try to tie or win it. With just seconds left the Aggie quarterback threw a pass into the end zone and the receiver caught it and everyone was screaming excited for the exciting win – then we saw the flag on the field. Offensive pass interference was called and the touchdown was taken away and the penalty put us almost out of field goal range. Quickly the Aggies got into position and attempted a field goal as time expired. The ball hit the cross bar and fell short. The game was over and the Aggies lost.

The replay showed that while there might have been some contact from both players, it probably was not offensive pass interference. The USU Fans were united in expressing their opinion that that call cost the Aggies the game and that we were cheated out of a win. I was even caught up in the emotion and felt that it was a bad call and cost the us the game. Now that I have had a short night’s sleep I can look back and realize that that one bad call did not cost USU the game. What about the time when USU was on the 1-yard line and it was 4^th down and instead of kicking a field goal to go ahead by 3 points the coaches called the play to go for the touchdown and failed. How many other plays were called by the coaching staff that failed? How many players failed to execute the plays or failed to get the first down? The greatest thing about sports is no one is perfect, including the referees. All of the mistakes made during that game put the Aggies in a position where “one bad call” cost them the game. One bad call does not lose a game and not one person is responsible; everyone is. Many fans are questioning the coaching staff for their bad decisions but if the players had executed the plays the coaches called, then they would have been heroes.

I have been a referee for over 30 years. While I am not a football referee, I officiate basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. I have officiated at the youth, High School, and collegiate levels. I know the pressure referees have to get the calls right but we are human and do make mistakes. That is part of the game. I have often said that in my 30 years of officiating I have never made a wrong call. People respond in disbelief when I say that, but I tell them it is true because once I make that call it is right. I have made many bad calls but once made it is right. Fortunately, I don’t officiate any sport that has instant replay so my calls are not over turned. I am not sure how I would react having all my calls up for review. Maybe I would find out that I have made wrong calls.

After the game my 12-year-old grandson said he would never trust referees again and that they were all out to gut us. I tried to help him understand that referees do not care who wins and that most officials are not out to get anyone. I admit there have been some officials that are biased but they are very few and usually don’t last long.

Sports are a mirror of our lives and we can learn many lessons from participating in sports. Many years ago one of the sports channels had the motto of “The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat”. Sports has a way of exalting us or humbling us. We learn how to win and show respect for the other team. We learn how to lose with dignity and admire the skill of the winning team or appreciate the sacrifice the officials made to be there for us. Fans also show their true character by how they react to calls they feel are wrong. Today there is a lack of sportsmanship especially by the fans.

Above all we must remember that in our lives things just happen that we have no control of. Good and bad things happen and we need to learn how to deal with every circumstance that we face. We may think that someone, our teacher, our boss, our spouse, the cop; whoever it is that is causing us to fail or things not going the way we want that we are responsible for how we react. We also must realize that normally it is many previous choices that we have made that put us in the situation we are in when it seems that everyone is out to get us.

We all must take responsibility for the choices we make when bad things happen. When we do not get the grade we want in class, it is not the teachers fault, but maybe the many choices to not study properly or turn assignments in on time. When we do not get the promotion or raise, maybe our boss has some responsibility but can we find things in our performance that has not merited the raise.

When the person we voted for does not get elected how do we respond? Do we protest and vow never to vote again or do we do our best to support the person that was elected by staying involved and pursuing our ideals?

When bad things in the world happen is God to blame, no it is caused by the choices that others make, sometimes it is the choices that we have made over many years that have affected the environment. Sometimes bad things just happen and we must learn to respond in a kind and loving manner not with anger and hatred.

Seldom is the “one bad call” the cause of our failure or injustice but it is a life time of choices that have led us to the position where one call affects the outcome of our game of life.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

The Road Trip

Recently my wife went on a trip to Canada to visit her family.  She drove from Logan, Utah to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (Central, SK); to Red Deer (above Calgary), Alberta; to Kalowna, British Columbia (South East B.C.); to Vancouver Island on the East coast of B.C; to Olympia, Washington, then a stop in Boise, Idaho to spend the last night with my brother, and finally back to Logan, Utah. The trip was more than 3200 miles and took her three weeks. To plan for the trip we got on Google maps and plotted her course and I showed her how to use the GPS on her iPhone. She also had a stand-alone GPS system and she had even purchased an Atlas so she could use the physical maps as she went. We thought we had planned every detail so she would not have any problems getting to each of her destinations, or so we thought.

As soon as she crossed the border into Canada, her iPhone stopped working; not because of the carrier but because her iPhone was an older model and the type of phone she had did not work in Canada. She no longer had access to the technology she needed to get her from one place to the next – her GPS. When she tried to use the stand alone GPS, the maps were out of date and did not have the correct maps for Canada. She only had the Atlas to help her find her way and those maps did not have the detail she needed when she got into the towns to find her way to her family’s homes. Fortunately, she did know her way around Prince Albert her first destination because she grew up there and her family still lived on the family farm that she was raised on so all she needed to do was get to Prince Albert and she was fine.

Though inconvenient the loss of her iPhone was as big of a problem as I thought. When she got to her first stop she was able to call her family at then next stop and get directions and she was able to call me each day and let me know how the trip was going. Since cells phones are only about 30 years old and we both are older than that we know what it is like to travel without one. It was inconvenient but not impossible.

On her second leg of the trip from Prince Albert to Red Deer in Alberta, she ran into the next problem – no road signs. Even though she had the names of the streets she was supposed to turn on, the streets were not marked and she ended up on a three-hour side tour of Alberta before she found her way to Red Deer. The side tour ended up being quite the adventure because a very large Moose (as she described it) ran across the road in front of her car and then she came across a flock of Snow Canadian Geese that she thought was absolutely beautiful.

While there were several adjustments that needed to be made because of the technical difficulties she managed to make it to each destination and have a wonderful time visiting family and friends and eventually made it back home safely. It was a trip she will always remember.

This is not the first time we have experienced problems with GPS technology. A few years ago I went on a trip to Chicago for some training for work and my wife went with me. One day while I was in meetings she decided to go to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I programed the GPS with the address to the museum which was on Lake Shore Drive. She took off and I went to my meeting. About two hours later she called me and asked how long it was supposed to take to get to the museum. I said about 45 minutes. When she told me she was still not there I asked what the last sign was that she passed. She told me Des Moines, Iowa; she was headed back to Salt Lake City! I told her to click on the return to start button and head back to the hotel. When she got back I looked at the GPS and even though I thought I had put in Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; it had defaulted to Lake Shore Drive, Utah. Needless to say I still have a distrust of GPSs and their accuracy.

We can compare my wife’s road trip to our time here in mortality. There is a purpose for our birth here at this time. We did not just pop into existence when we were born and we will not cease to exist after we die. We lived before this life as spirit children of our Heavenly Father and he provided a plan whereby we could come here and gain physical bodies, develop faith in him and His Son, Jesus Christ; learn to keep the commandments he gave us; and receive the ordinances that would enable us to return to his presence and live with him eternally. Our lives do not end at death, they will go on but the type of life we have there will depend on the roads we travel and if we follow the proper route that will get us to the final destination – back to Heavenly Father’s presence.

Many people have no idea what their destination is, they are just driving along taking whatever road they think looks interesting. Others may know the destination but have no idea which road to take; they have no functioning GPS, their GPS does not have the correct maps, their Atlas does not have the detail they need,  or there are no road signs to follow. Others may think that they are on the right road and are listening to the GPS directions but do not realize they are in reality headed to the wrong “Lake Shore Drive”, they get lost on a three-hour diversion because they think they know the directions and don’t listen to the GPS, or they are not following the maps or the directions that they were given.

All roads do not lead to Heaven and the Savior has said that the way is straight and narrow. If we do not follow the correct route we may find that when we arrive at our final destination that it was not where they wanted to go. Michael Goodman speaking to the students of BYU said: “We are here on earth to learn what we need to learn so that we can become what we are intended to become and return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and Mother for eternity". (“Become a Seeker: They Way, the Truth, and the Life”) In other words we need to know what roads will take us on our road trip that will lead us back to that destination to live with Heavenly Father and we must avoid the side roads that will only lead us away from that destination.

The Lord has not sent us here without the proper directions to get us back home to him. He has given us a variety of GPS instruments, maps, and other things to help us along the way. They come to us through the scriptures, living prophets, Apostles, and other church leaders, our family, friends. He has provided commandments as road signs to follow to keep us safe and provided us the Holy Ghost to help us stay on the right road or to warn us if we make the wrong turn. He has provided all of the ordinances that will qualify us to return and live with him.

Eventually like my wife we will all return home from our road trip. If we use the “technology” that the Lord has provides us we will arrive at the proper destination safely.

Your comments and questions are welcome.