Epiphanies of Gratitude

While sitting in the doctor's office yesterday with my oldest son who is preparing for a mission, we heard an older woman say in a loud voice, "Don't take me in backwards, I can't see where I am going."  We turned around to see an older gentleman gently backing his wife in a wheelchair through the door. 

"Well, let's get you turned around, then," he said kindly.  He made sure his wife was comfortable before checking in at the desk.  

The wife began to fidget with the wheelchair, "I thought you said that the wheels lock when you push back on the chair," she complained.

"No, dear, that was the other wheelchair," he said with compassion, while locking her wheels in place for her and sitting down beside her.  She was thirsty and wanting a drink, and so he got up from his seat again and asked the receptionist for a cup so that he could get his wife a drink from the drinking fountain nearby.  He filled up her cup a little more than half full and handed it to her carefully.

She responded by saying, "You didn't fill it all the way up, did you?  You are going to have to drink some.  I can't drink this much."  The elderly woman drank most of the water and then handed the rest to her husband who finished it for her without complaint.

The conversation continued much the same, with the woman complaining and the gentleman answering with gracious kindness.  Listening to their conversation, I was greatly affected by the woman's simple lack of gratitude.  Here was a good, kind man lovingly serving her and she could not seem to muster even a simple, "Thank you."  It struck me profoundly then, the importance of gratitude; the importance of saying, "Thank you," to all of those around us, especially God.  For without gratitude we are never truly satisfied.

I've heard it said recently that if we were only able to retain those things in our lives that we thanked God for each day, what would we have left?  I've thought a lot about that.  Have we thanked God today for all of those blessings in our lives that we just couldn't live without?  Our blessings are so abundant. Just look at the world around us! Betty Smith has said, "Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time.  Then your time on earth will be filled with glory."

I wish that the wife of this charity filled older gentleman could have the experience of looking at her husband for the first time just as I did yesterday.  She is richly blessed by the constant service of an angel on earth who loves her so completely.  What a enormous blessing it is to have that kind of love!

John Milton tells us, "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world."

May we have epiphanies of gratitude this week as we sit down with our loved ones during this Thanksgiving Holiday.  May our time on earth be "filled with glory," as we look at everything as though we were seeing it for the first or last time.  And may we bow our heads in thanks to God for all the many blessings we cannot do without.