Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

Sister Parker wishing you Happy Holiday.

The Christmas Holiday has started in Denmark.  Thanksgiving as known in the USA is not celebrated here, so that allows an extra month for Christmas!  We are seeing many Christmas decorations and displays appearing, but we will try to hold off our own celebrations until after we have Thanksgiving for us!

A Thanksgiving Prayer from Elder Parker                                             

Being Thankful for All Things

Written

Oct. 4, 2001

When faced with my first professional job just out of BYU, the first week of work, I was feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, and depressed.  That is when I was driven to my knees and found strength. Returning to my office, I found this thought written on a 4 X 5 card left on my desk:

“Be thankful for your challenges.  If you didn’t have them you wouldn’t be needed here, and if they were any less difficult, someone with less ability would have your job.”

This brought me to one of my favorite scriptures - I call it my Thanksgiving Scripture.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:18, 19 and 21   “…be of good cheer, for I will lead thee along.  The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.  And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea more.  And he that is a faithful and wise steward shall inherit all things.  Amen.   

This is the great promise and gift God gives us as we receive all things with thankfulness. As I have reflected on this commandment with a promise I have come to realize the following:

I am thankful that I must rise early to prepare for the day, because it means I will be rewarded with the beauty of the rising sun and the mist on the mountain.

I am thankful for the stress I feel when trying something new, because it stretches my capacity and enlarges my soul.

I’m thankful for my feelings of inadequacy, because they bring a humility and dependence on the Spirit.

I am thankful that God doesn’t immediately answer all of my prayers, because it builds my faith in patiently waiting on the Lord.

I am thankful for the opportunity to lose myself in service, because I have discovered my self-centered tendencies fade with good works.

I’m thankful for the conflict that sometimes arises through misunderstandings, because it gives me opportunity for Christ-like love to heal, bless, and build life-long friends.

I am thankful for quiet, meditative moments, because they allow the Spirit to whisper to my soul and give direction to my actions.

I am thankful for the scriptures, because they place in my hands the answers to prayers sought on my knees.

I am thankful for the knowledge that God appeared to an uneducated farm boy, because it allows me to realize that I don’t need to be a man of great wisdom, knowledge, stature or wealth to receive the same manifestation.  

I am thankful that God doesn’t have to manifest himself personally to me, because I have received a witness that he appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith.

I am thankful for the living prophet of God, for he provides a sure anchor for our faith. 

I am thankful that God has provided temples throughout the world, because in the temple I find great peace, personal revelation, and am able to witness the wonder of the covenants made with my sweetheart. 

I am thankful for the billowing storms of life, for I know that God can still the storm, yet I know that at times He allows the storms to rage, and stills our hearts, and steels our souls.

I am thankful there was no room in the inn, no palace doors open to Joseph and Mary.  The humble stable had to do.  It shows me that whatever our humble beginnings or circumstances we, too, can rise to glory and exaltation.  It’s not what one has, but what one gives.  It’s not the wealth one receives that creates greatness.  We all were born to greatness from the courts on high.