Brothers and sisters, I am grateful to be with you this evening to recognize and celebrate your graduation from Brigham Young University Idaho. Congratulations to each of you for your diligence in attaining this worthwhile goal to better prepare yourself for the future. The attainment of this important goal is due to your hard work and perseverance, but it is also attributable to family, friends, and the caring faculty and staff here at BYU-Idaho. Be sure to find a way to express your gratitude to those who have helped you in your quest for higher education, which will surely be a blessing to you throughout your life.
While expressing gratitude is a relatively easy thing to do, many people struggle
How much better it is to show gratitude to God as did the grateful leper with a loud voice of thanks; his demonstration of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ brought him cleansing from a debilitating disease and made him whole.
“Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things”[2] is not merely a worthwhile suggestion from God; it is, rather, a commandment. While there might be various motivations for neglecting to keep this commandment, the reason could be something as basic as a lack of awareness of the many blessings we enjoy from Heavenly Father.
Referring to this point, President Russell M. Nelson related the following experience:
Recently, Sister Nelson and I enjoyed the beauty of tropical fish in a small private aquarium. Fish with vivid colors and of a variety of shapes and sizes darted back and forth. I asked the attendant nearby, “Who provides food for these beautiful fish?”
She responded, “I do.”
Then I asked, “Have they ever thanked you?”
She replied, “Not yet!”
I thought of some people I know who are just as oblivious to their Creator and their true “bread of life.”[3] They live from day to day without an awareness of God and His goodness unto them.
How much better it would be if all could be more aware of God’s providence and love and express that gratitude to Him.[4]
As you continue along the path of life, please take whatever time is necessary to become aware of your many blessings and to thank God and others appropriately.
Expressing gratitude to others, especially to our Heavenly Father for His many blessings, is essential in the pursuit of a joyful life. Making certain that others know of your appreciation for their acts of service—large or small—will bless their lives, and it will bless your own. As you are served by others, you will naturally want to increase the level of your own
Several years ago I witnessed an example of pure, spontaneous gratitude for something that I sometimes take for granted. My mother lived in a beautiful senior retirement community in the western part of the Salt Lake Valley for several years before her death last year. I enjoyed visiting her often and occasionally would attend church with her.
On one such visit, she and I were seated about halfway from the front of the room in which her sacrament meeting was held. I still remember the wonderful spirit of that meeting, especially the reverence that was displayed during the administration of the sacrament. I was impressed that men in their eighties and even nineties were
As a brother was passing the sacrament to the people seated a few rows in front of us, I was surprised when one elderly man, who was receiving the sacrament bread, said in a loud, earnest voice to the brother who was passing the sacrament, “Thank you!”
I immediately looked up because I had never before attended a sacrament meeting where anyone had expressed thanks to the priesthood holder who was administering the sacrament to them. I had certainly never heard such sincere thanks for the sacrament expressed in such a loud voice. When the water was passed, he repeated the same heartfelt words, beaming with immense gratitude that radiated visibly from his countenance. I am not relating this story so that others will do the same thing as this good man did but, rather, to give another example of pure, fervent gratitude like the thankfulness expressed by the leper who was cleansed.
The promises to those who express their gratitude to God are sure:
Counsel with the Lord in all thy
Isn’t that a marvelous promise from our loving Heavenly Father, who gives us everything we have and, in addition, promises us tremendous blessings if we will have a heart full of thanks?
Sometimes it is difficult to express gratitude when we are faced with trials in our lives. However, the person who is truly grateful—at all stages and in all times of life—“shall be made glorious”[6] in the sight of God.
Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, former general Relief Society president, stated:
"The kind of gratitude that receives even tribulations with thanksgiving requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit, humility to accept that which we cannot change, willingness to turn everything over to the Lord—even when we do not understand, thankfulness for hidden opportunities yet to be revealed. Then comes a sense of peace."
We should be grateful for the difficult times as well as the good so that we can align our lives
As you leave BYU-Idaho and continue with the next important steps in your progression here on the earth, be certain that you “live in thanksgiving daily,”[7] which is the pattern shown to us by our Savior Jesus Christ. Have a thankful heart, and show that gratitude by frequently expressing thanks to others and by giving back through your service and generosity. Never forget to thank your chief benefactor, our Heavenly Father, for His love to you in providing you a Savior, His Beloved Son. An essential way to prepare and be worthy
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.[8]
I invite each of you to realize that promise in your life. In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Luke 17:15.
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 59:7.
[3] John 6:35, 48; see also verse 51.
[4] Russell M. Nelson, “Thanks Be to God,” Ensign, May 2012; lds.org.
[5] Alma 37:37.
[6] Bonnie D. Parkin, “Gratitude: A Path to Happiness,” Ensign, May 2007; lds.org.
[7] Alma 34:38
[8] Thomas S. Monson, “The Divine Gift of Gratitude,” Ensign, Nov. 2010; lds.org.