Gratitude

I have lost two cameras in my almost four years of marriage. The second was lost sometime around January. So the last about six months of pictures have been on my phone. My phone fell in the toilet a week or two ago. Pictures gone. So, thank goodness for this blog, instagram and facebook or I would be crap out of luck on the last six months. At least I have a few good gems left through these sites.  Electronics don't like us.

We've had a few financial frustrations and bumps in the road come up the last month. Nothing serious. Small bumps like a doctor visit and an ER visit for Aleah (she's fine-both visits turned out to be I guess maybe kind of unnecessary. More of a "This happened/is happening, is she ok?" visit). My wisdom teeth have a date with the dentist next week, phones falling in toilets and now we need new phones....those kind of small bumps. Nothing serious. We'll be just fine. I am ridiculous for complaining. And I'm sorry...stay with me though.

I've been so mad about all of these things that have come up though. We followed a plan and we were suppose to start putting away and saving money. Not happening for a little while.
 
I had a lesson for my primary class Sunday about gratitude. Obviously, this lesson was so for me. I have so much to be grateful for. I am blessed with so much. I feel bad that sometimes I let the negatives take over my view and forget all of the positives.

I have learned a couple of things this month....
Material possessions will never be a good source of  happiness. Things can just get lost and ruined. Even pictures- an attempt at capturing proof of a memory, will never be as solid as the memory. I am going to have to give living in the moment a better try.
I also remembered how not fun trials are, but how much growth can come from them (even the small trials) if we let them and if we learn from them with humility instead of bitterness and anger. And isn't that why we came to this Earth? To learn and grow. To be tried and tested.
I have so much that is going right in my life. And I am really grateful for those things. I am also learning to be grateful for the things that are going wrong, as silly as that sounds. I'm glad that life isn't easy and that I am allowed opportunities to grow. I recognize that my trials are helping me. I'm grateful for what I'm learning through them. I'm grateful to be on this earth experiencing trials and learning.

Last night I wrote this out and then just saved it in my drafts. Before going to bed last night I flipped through one of my favorite books, Glimpses into the life and heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley and found by accident some really great quotes about gratitude from Sister Hinckley. I love her. Every women needs this book, by the way. 
Here's two quotes I loved..

1."When I was young, a Sunday School teacher once faced our class and said, 'I would like to tell you what I am thankful for. I am thankful for my home. I am thankful that I have a good husband and children. I am thankful that I have enough money for the comforts of life.' And many other things she listed. 'But most of all,' she said, 'I am grateful for the trials I have had.'

This sounded strange to us young people, but as the years have gone by I have come to know what she meant. For it is the trials of life that make us humble and make us strong. I could list bounteous material blessings that the Lord has showered down upon me in this past year. But I am most grateful of all for the small trials that were mine. I am grateful that the Lord in his wisdom saw fit to deprive me of my health and strength for a sufficient length of time that I came to appreciate what good health means and what joy there is in being able to do a day's honest work. And I have now come to sympathize and understand better what the love of a neighbor and goodness of a friend can mean in time of need. I am indeed grateful that there have been a few times in my life that I have had to depend entirely on the Lord for my well-being and comfort."

2."A grateful heart will give you a touch of refinement that can come in no other way. 

I went to high school during the days of the famous Depression. It was a miserable experience. But, in a way, I wish you could have been there with us. Somehow it helped me to appreciate much more the prosperity we now enjoy. I know some of you think you are on a tight budget, and you are. I am glad if you are. But it is a tight budget because you have nothing else to compare with it. It isn't your fault that you have had three square meals a day, most every day of your life. It isn't your fault that you have never been hungry in your life. It isn't your fault that somehow or other you have always been able to get a new pair of shoes, whether you needed them or not. It isn't your fault that you have at least five or six changes of clothing in your crowded closets. But all of this makes it doubly hard for you to be truly grateful.

....

And when you finally develop a little gratitude in your heart, make up your mind to express it. 'Appreciation unexpressed is not appreciation.' If you can't find someone to say thank you to for something, just take a look at your toothbrush and say, 'Thank you for being. You are a wonderful little gadget.' 

'Thank you' is a wonderful phrase. Use it. It will add stature to your soul. Never let a day go by without saying thank you to someone for something-and especially to your Heavenly Father."