Look Up

With Thanksgiving coming up and all, I guess it's about time that I join the ranks of the grateful bloggers.

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time. It's a chance for us to come together as we stop to think about our blessings. We all have our moments throughout the year where we are hit with gratitude for someone or something, but the thing about Thanksgiving is that we can do it together. As we come together to share the joys of gratitude, our relationships are strengthened.

I am so grateful for so many things in my life - big and small. I am grateful, first and foremost, for my family. They are the greatest blessing I could ever have. I am grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; this has given me such strength. I am grateful for my friends, for the examples they are to me, and for their influence in my life. I'm grateful for this beautiful world that we live in. I'm grateful for the comforts of my home. I'm grateful for a healthy body. I'm grateful to have the ability to learn. I'm grateful for all the opportunities available to me. I'm grateful for this country and the freedom that it gives me. I'm grateful for the simple pleasures that I am able to enjoy daily. I'm grateful for my hard times and what they've shaped me to become.

Just as important as being grateful for what we have is recognizing where it all came from.

"Someone has said that an ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating apples and never looking up to see where they come from."
-President Ezra Taft Benson

Everything that we have was given to us by a kind and loving Heavenly Father who wants the very best for each of us. We have been blessed with so much, and there are more blessings to come if we will simply come to Him. Recognize His influence in your life; look up and see how much He has given you. Look up and be grateful. Look up and allow Him in.