Click here to find out more
 

Click Here to Shop -- Meridian Marketplace
LDSPro.com


Click here to find out more






Share the article on this page with a friend.
Click here.
Meridian Magazine : : Home


What Manner of Man: 
A Weekly Program to Better Know the Savior

Gratitude
By Linda and Richard Eyre

Note: Each week this column provides a short essay on one particular aspect or facet of the Lord's personality and character.  It is intended that the reader focus on this facet while partaking of the sacrament this Sunday.  (Click here to read full introductory column.)  And if you’re interested in traveling with the Eyres and getting to know them in person, visit MeridianTrips.com

How closely (perfectly?) gratitude equates with joy!  Gratitude is joy. Awareness and appreciation are joy. Joy is gratitude and awareness and appreciation. Accomplishments, knowledge, even beliefs make us happy only as we respond to them with gratitude.

Our Savior’s whole life so brimmed with gratitude to his Father that it often flowed over. The great seventeenth chapter of John the Apostle is filled with acknowledgement of God and with thanksgiving. He gave thanks for bread (Mark 8:6, John 6:11) and, on the eve of His crucifixion, he thanked God for the cup (Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:23). His apostles leaned and emulated and preached his gratitude. Paul said that we should give thanks always for all things (Ephesians 5:20), and he understood the connections between gratitude and joy (1 Thessalonians 3:9).

Gratitude and appreciation are two of those rare and beautiful qualities (not quantities) of which we have more as we give away more. Our own supply of quantities (material, mammon) decreases as we give our quantities to others; but our supply of each Christ-like quality (love, joy, testimony, gratitude) increases as we give of our supply to others.

Gratitude is warmth and light. Christ showed it to his Father, aroused it in others, left it with us all as an example, along with a thousand daily blessings to apply it to.

We are quickly conscious of the lack of gratitude in others (particularly when it is us they owe gratitude to), yet sometimes we seem completely unconscious of our lack of gratitude to God. Sadly, it is ourselves we rob – of the joy of gratitude.

Join us next week as we move into a new section of the Savior’s traits, those related to His strength, beginning with comments on His physical endurance and power.

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.

© 2005 Meridian Magazine.  All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

About the Authors:


Linda and Richard Eyre, parents of nine children and authors (together and individually) of more than thirty books, are now focusing on reaching families and individuals online. Through their web sites valuesparenting.com, http://www.theeyres.com/, and http://www.familynightlessons.com/, their frequent media appearances on shows such as Oprah, The CBS Early Show, The Today Show, and BYU Television, and their world-wide lecture tours, they continue to work at their mission statement – "FORTIFY FAMILIES, popularize parenting, validate values, and bolster balance."

Linda is a teacher and musician and founder of "Joy Schools." She was named by the National Council of Women as one of America's six outstanding young women. Richard, a former mission president in London and candidate for Utah governor, was the director of the White House Conference on Parents and Children for President Reagan. Both of the Eyres have served on numerous civic, arts, university, and humanitarian boards and head a foundation that focuses on the needs of third world children.
Related Articles:

What Manner of Man Archive
What do you think?
Share your thoughts, comments, and impressions about this article.
Format for Print
Click Here