Leadership
for Saints,
Part 15:
Planning the Work, Working the Plan
by
Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar
I have a 94-year-old
friend who is very dear to me. She called one evening after she
received a piece of my writing--an essay I thought would comfort
her in her afflictions. Much to my surprise, she sensed the emotional
pain I had been feeling when I wrote it, and she was concerned about
me. She thinks I have always been a bit too serious about life and
said, “Oh my dear Darla, you can just enjoy the sparkle of
the snow--you don’t have to shovel it!” She opened my
heart to a very important inquiry. I think I have spent too much
of my life shoveling the snow instead enjoying its sparkle. I’m
only now learning to relax into what is, to see the wisdom and truth
in thanking the Lord in all things.
I have much
more to be grateful for than I sometimes realize. Too often I don’t
remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could
enjoy and appreciate. Preoccupied with failed expectations I can
easily allow my mind to focus on the gap between how things are
and how I want them to be. The more I focus on that, the bigger
the gap seems. My thoughts are apt to stray every moment into the
negative unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths. When I
choose to pray, surrender my thoughts to God and His loving mercy,
count my blessings and remember the Lord’s great goodness
in my life, gratitude comes flooding back.
The
Healing Power of Gratitude
A younger friend
of mine lost her father recently. He was her hero, and she fell
into depression. Several months after his death I was walking with
her beside a lake as the sun was coming up. The sky was painted
with light and the air was fresh with promise. She told me about
her discovery that gratitude was the key to overcoming her depression.
One morning in the shower she began to sing, “Count your many
blessings; name them one by one.” As her tears flowed with
the warm and cleansing water, she thought of all she still had,
and the paralyzing grief began to be washed from her heart.
Kahlil Gibran
in his book The Prophet said, “Gratitude is in itself a wholesome
and healing force and it becomes all the more real when we make
it a regular part of our prayers.
“You
pray in your distress and in your need: would that you might pray
also in the fulness of your joy.”
Prayers
of Joy
What a lovely
idea--to pray in joy! Every prayer of gratitude is a prayer of joy.
As I learn to see the world and my stay on this planet with fresh
eyes, with eyes that enjoy the sparkle, I find many reasons for
contentment and gratitude. My prayers become more joyful.
As I observe
with a grateful heart the commonplace things happening in each new
day, even the commonplace begins to sparkle. I can cultivate the
art of really noticing with an acute awareness my surroundings,
the precious people in my life, and the ongoing drama of mortality.
The noted scientist
Huxley said: “For every man, the world is as fresh as it was
the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the
eyes to see them”
The other day
my grandson and I were enjoying the Indian summer sun in my back
yard after I gave him a haircut. He picked up a tuft of hair and
threw it to the wind. I was standing at such an angle that the sun
turned the tiny pieces of hair into a shower of light and this precious
child’s head into a crown of gold. Breathless with wonder
at the sight, I remembered the scripture “But even the very
hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Luke 12:7) I was overwhelmed
with the feeling of being loved, and of loving. A commonplace moment
brought me to a prayer of pure joy.
The
Choice Is Mine
I find it in
my heart to pray that God will make me receptive, aware, and full
of thanksgiving each moment--continue to restore my capacity for
wonder. I discovered a major key to accomplishing this state of
mind: when I find myself bogged down with negative thoughts, I must
deliberately turn away from them, choose to replace them with thoughts
of faith and love and gratitude. The choice is more simple than
it seems, and in many ways my life is black or white depending on
that choice. In every second of my life I either choose to live
in fear and doubt or in faith and love.
If I focus
my thoughts on all that sparkles in my life, the sparkle will increase
day by day and crowd out the self-pity and resentment over what
I lack and what brings me pain. I will find myself more and more
adept at using God’s help to manage my life in order and serenity.
The philosopher
Epictetus said, “What you have may seem small; you desire
so much more. See children thrusting their hands into a narrow-necked
jar, striving to pull out the sweets. If they fill the hand, they
cannot pull it out and then they fall to tears. When they let go
a few, they can draw out the rest. You, too, let your desire go;
covet not too much . . .”
Gratitude:
the Fountain of Motivation
Another amazing
dimension of gratitude is motivation. When Ed Pinegar was a first-time
mission president, he struggled, prayed, and pondered to know how
to motivate his missionaries. The Spirit taught him that gratitude
is the fountain of action. In the case of his missionaries, the
ones who felt heart-deep gratitude for the atonement and all the
blessings of the gospel could not be restrained from sharing it.
The others could not keep their motivation level up.
Oh, how clear
it becomes that the most precious things in our lives are as naught
if we do not value them, recognize their importance, and thank the
Lord for them. Even the simplest things can become reasons for thanksgiving
and can motivate righteous actions when we are in the mind set of
thanksgiving.
I remember
when I returned from living overseas where hot water was a luxury,
determining that I would never get into a hot shower without giving
thanks. Every bite of good food, every piece of comfortable clothing,
every strain of beautiful music, every beautiful thing in nature
or in our homes, every ray of sunshine in our lives can become reason
for thanks--and can give motivation for sharing our abundance in
service.
How unimportant
our creature comforts are, however, in comparison with the gospel
and the people we love. What a joy it is to contemplate the graciousness
of God in granting us family, friends, temple ordinances, and his
own grace, mercy, and forgiveness. There is no end to the list of
blessings given us by our great and loving God. Whenever we recognize
them, we are fired with the faith that moves us to actively living
a life of love and service to all those around us.
All
Is Well
I don’t
need to shovel the snow of my past, but enjoy the sparkle of the
present--I don’t need to ruminate on disappointments or worry
about what I don’t have, but can rejoice in what I have been
given, the marvel of the good things I have experienced.
When I focus
on the good, what I do have, what I can do, what the Lord has given
me--I know that all is well, all is in God’s hands. In 2 Corinthians
4:15 we read, “For all things are for your sakes, that the
abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to
the glory of God.” The world is not purposeless chaos, but
fulfilling of prophecy leading every closer to the bright Millennial
morning. I am in the light whenever I choose to turn from thoughts
of despair to thoughts of gratitude, thoughts of Christ.
Elder Jeffrey
R. Holland, summed it up beautifully: “Those who will receive
the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of their salvation will always
lie down in green pastures, no matter how barren and bleak the winter
has been. And the waters of their refreshment will always be still
waters, no matter how turbulent the storms of life. In walking His
path of righteousness, our souls will be forever restored, and though
that path may for us, as it did for Him lead through the very valley
of the shadow of death, yet we will fear no evil . . . Our cup runneth
over with His kindness, and our tears runneth over with joy. We
weep to know that such goodness and mercy shall follow us all the
days of our life, and that we will, if we desire it, dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.” (Ensign, Nov. 1997, 4)
Note:
The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian
are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn
more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click
here.
© 2002
by Rodger Dean Duncan & Ed J. Pinegar
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