Attitude of Gratitude

I read an article on Gratitude today, and thought it would be perfect to start this week out, since Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. So I will share with you some of the quotes in this article  ( The Divine Gift of Gratitude  November 2010 from Thomas S. Monson).

"When  you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that becoming to you and will bless your lives"  ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

The article also mentioned the story in the New Testament from the book of Matthew, where the Savior had traveled in the wilderness for three days, more than 4,000 people followed and traveled with Him. The Savior realized that many of them probably hadn't eaten during the three days. When His disciples couldn't see how they could possibly feed that many people, the Savior looked at their situation differently. The disciples saw only what was lacking. The Savior asked how much food they had ( only seven loaves and a few fishes ). The Savior asked the multitude to sit down and He blessed and divided the food, then gave it to his disciples to distribute among the multitude.
The point is that the Savior gave thanks for what they had and then the miracle followed. After everyone had eaten, the disciples were asked to go back and gathered what food was left. ( which was seven baskets full ) . We all have experienced times when our focus is on what we lack rather than our blessings.

We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate without our hearts an attitude of gratitude.

"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted"  ~ Aldous Huxley

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has"  ~ Epictetus