Gratitude Story

One of my favorite pioneer stories is a story I heard in Martin's Cove several years ago. It is the story of the Mellor family, who crossed the Plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company.
Sixteen-year-old Louisa Mellor Clark, oldest child of the family, recorded this incident in her journal: 


“The first snowstorm left about two feet of snow on the ground, and we began to feel very nervous. We had to wade through more streams, and sometimes up to our waists, and when we got through our clothes would freeze on us until a great many gave up and many died, mostly old people. At last the snow got to be four and five feet deep and often we had to shovel a road before we could move. Thus our traveling was very slow and our provisions nearly gave out.

“My mother, still being weak, finally gave up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her, so she bade my father goodbye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed. Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth, to take good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I would stay with mother. I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us, that He would protect us from wolves, and that He would let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to mother to eat. After resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings. A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet us. We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m.

“Many times after that mother felt like giving up and quitting, but then she would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude instead. So she went on her way rejoicing while walking the blood-stained path of snow.”

There are two things I love about this story: 1. The wonderful, kind way Heavenly Father answer the sincere prayer of a worried daughter and  2. The deep gratitude for blessings expressed by the family in the most difficult of times. 
 
May your heart be full of gladness for your blessings this Thanksgiving season!

Cultivating Gratitude

November is the time we naturally think and talk about our blessings. Vaughn E. Worthen said:

"Gratitude is a positive experience that comes from recognizing gifts or blessings and feeling thankful. It is also an attitude, a way of perceiving life, in which individuals are willing to acknowledge and receive the beneficial actions of others on their behalf. Gratitude is also a habit that can be cultivated, causing one to focus on the blessings of life."

Brother Worthen also points out that those who cultivate and practice gratitude feel less depressed or anxious, and more happiness, with a greater sense of well-being. They are also healthier, more forgiving, less envious, more generous, and more able to cope with adversity.
(Mar 2010 Ensign, "The Value of Experiencing and Expressing Gratitude")


See  here and here and here for ideas we have shared in the past for cultivating and experiencing gratitude. It doesn't take a lot of effort, your plan may include quiet reflection or some activity or daily reminder to pause and count your blessings. You and your family can do something as simple as:

 printing a page of leaves from the computer,

coloring them,

cutting them out,

and writing on the back of each leaf something you thankful for. After stringing a ribbon through each leaf,

 hang them on a "tree".

How do you cultivate gratitude in your life?

Showing Gratitude Daily

 Recently, the stake RS presidency visited Shepherd ward.  Sister Cindy Edward gave a wonderful and timely lesson on showing gratitude.  Most of the information for today's post comes from Sister Edward's lesson.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

A gratitude journal is simply a place to record the things you are grateful for each day.  Choose a place that will work for you.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  If you live by your planner or calendar, record your thoughts there.  Or, find a notebook you like, big or little, spiral or handmade, plain or decorative-it doesn't matter!  Then, list five things each day that you are thankful for.

You can keep a personal gratitude journal, or set one out for the whole family to write in.  Family members can make a gratitude entry several times a day-whenever they recognize a blessing.

Children too young to write can contribute a picture to their own gratitude journal or glue one into the family journal.  You can write an explanation to go with the picture, if you wish. Wouldn't a family gratitude journal be a treasure to own and read as the years pass?

Read about Gratitude from the Scriptures or LDS.org

Read the story about the ten lepers healed by the Savior in Luke 17.

President Erying gave a wonderful talk about recording blessing in our life's entitled "O Remember, Remember".  You can read the entire article here.

Sister Edward gave us a list of

 things we can do today to show gratitude. 

This list is from the 2006 BYU Women's Conference.

Start a gratitude journal

Tell someone you love, how much you appreciate them

Send a thank you note to someone

Start a list of things that make you happy

Offer a prayer of thanksgiving

Sit down to dinner and share something you are grateful for today

Copy a quote about gratitude and put it on your fridge

Give something away

 Do something nice for some else

Give at least five compliments to people you see

Be more obedient to one of the Lord's commandments

Start and end your day with a grateful thought

Make a scrapbook page about something you are thankful for

Give thanks before meals.

 Make a Thanksgiving spot--a bulletin board or refrigerator are great places to let family members "post" things they are thankful for.

Gratitude FHE

November is a great time to have a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude.  Last year we posted this FHE idea for encouraging feelings of thankfulness:

http://billingseaststakereliefsociety.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-am-thankful-for.html

This is a similar idea.  These "remembering to feel grateful" activities were something my children looked forward to every year when they were little.

First, make a turkey out of scrapbook paper or constrution paper.  My turkey has a big circle body, a little circle head, an orange beak, yellow wattle, feet and eyes.

Cut several "feathers" out of different colors of scrap paper.

Add notches, if desired.

Method 1: On the back of each feather write a family member's name or "friend" or "other".  On a FHE night, let each member draw a feather out of a pile and write what she/he is thankful for about that person.  "Other" is the wild card--they can write about anything or anybody they are thankful for and why. Make sure you have several feathers for each family member.  Do this over a couple of FHE nights.  Read them all together on a Sunday afternoon or final November FHE.

Method 2:  Each night during the month of November, everyone gets one feather to write about something that happened that day for which they are grateful.  Again, read them together as a family at FHE or on a Sunday afternoon.

Everyone can stick their feather on the turkey.

If you use blue painters tape, it's easy to remove the feathers later for reading.

You can add as many feathers as you like.

Hang your turkey somewhere in your home in a place everyone will pass by several times a day as a reminder to be grateful.