Gratitude

Some years ago, our ward had a bishop who displayed a Gertrude Stein quote on his office wall: “Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.”

From our early years, we were taught to say “please” and “thank you” as well as use other expressions whereby we demonstrated common courtesy to others. We were made to understand that we belonged to a larger society of men and women, and that the peace and good order of that community depended upon each member showing respect for others in ways appropriate to the ages and roles of those with whom we interacted. We were expected to demonstrate deference toward our elders and authority figures.

Another aspect of our becoming aware of our place in society was the appreciation we were taught for all those in our society who provided us benefits. We came to realize how our lives were made safer, more comfortable, more rewarding, and happier because of policemen, firemen, trash haulers, teachers, doctors, and so on. When someone did anything for us, even the smallest gesture, we were taught to show our appreciation or gratitude by at the very least saying “thank you.” If this was true of the larger society, then it was more so when considering our immediate family members. That is not to say that my brother and I did not engage in sibling rivalry, but our parents were not tolerant of it at any level. Therefore, my brother and I matured in an environment in which such conflict was minimal. Showing appreciation and respect for our parents was simply the order of the day. Rarely did the thought to do otherwise seriously enter our minds.

Now, asks the Apostle Paul, if we show respect to our parents, ought we to respect our Heavenly Father less? “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” (Hebrews 12:9)

King Benjamin places the matter of our thanks and gratitude to God in sharp focus: “I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another--I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:20-21).

If “actions speak louder than words,” then words alone will not suffice as the sole means of thanking God for our lives and the privilege to experience this mortal probation. As King Benjamin taught, actions in the form of service to our fellowmen are required of us, for we have no other means by which we may fulfill the covenants we made with God at the time of our baptism and confirmation “to serve Him.” Selfish inaction on our part when we are presented with an opportunity to share our blessings from God with others or to profess that God’s blessings to us are really of our own making is to heap condemnation upon our own heads.

Thus it should be clear that we have an obligation to outwardly manifest through overt expressions of appreciation and acts of service the blessings we receive from God and the favors we receive from the hands of our fellowmen. Well it would be for us that we not forget the Lord’s insight on this matter: “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments” (D&C 59:21).