GRATITUDE

So today in YWs we learned about being grateful.  By the end of the lesson my notes said this:

• "Attitude of gratitude." -Pres. Monson
• D&C 46:32 -How can I show my gratitude?  Service, honoring the people I am thankful for, thank you notes, writing what I'm thankful for down, sharing my talents
• Luke 17:11-19
• Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
• Alma 34:38
• "Trying to remember [how I had seen His hand in my day] allowed God to show me what he has done" -Pres. Eyring

I love the YW leader who taught today because she always has lots of scriptures and gives new perspectives on stories we've heard a hundred times.  The Luke scripture above is the story of the ten lepers.  She talked about lepercy and how it affected them.  She said that it was common to get lepercy when you were a child and since in verse 12 it says they were men, they had probably had it for years.  And in that same verse it says that they stood afar off, meaning that because of this disease they had they had been forced to leave their homes, friends and families and live far away without associating with anyone. So along with getting this terrible disease that they had to deal with, they pretty much lost everything.  So after Jesus healed them, why did only one out of the ten come back and thank him?  After naming some things we thought, do we sometimes use those excuses to not give thanks?

I am grateful that I have the scriptures, that I get to learn more about them every morning and that I understand them!  I remember why I was a new beehive in YW I was so confused when people talked about how much they love the scriptures and how much they help them and I really didn't get it.  I didn't understand what they meant, there was no way I could love them like all these other people seemed to.  I just thought that that wasn't one of my gifts and I would go my whole life not understanding.  Boy was I wrong.  I am now one of these people that love reading my scriptures as much as the book I'm currently reading and I don't bear my testimony at testimony meetings, YW or youth conferences without mentioning how much I love them.

I am grateful that I finished Jane Eyre.

I am grateful that I got to go a Halloween dance last night, even though it wasn't a very good turnout.  I dressed up as Dorothy and actually got quite a few compliments on it.  I invited my friends from Pasadena and even though it was Stake Conference for them so they all had to babysit they came late.  So that was fun.

I'm grateful I read an entire Shakespeare play for my Shakespeare class that I'm taking.  Taming of the Shrew.

I'm grateful I'm a member of the church and that I've had the opportunity to learn and study this in my youth so that I may be able to know it well enough to share it with others now and on my mission later.