In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving Follow this link to a short film in regards to Thanksgiving.

Said Dallan Oaks, "We should thank God for our adversities and pray for guidance in meeting them. It is all part of the plan."

It can be so easy to ask ourselves, or God, why do we face the personal challenges and difficulties that we do. Lately I've wondered about this quite a bit. I understand that there is something to be learned in every situation and the hard ones in particular. Those lessons are not usually readily apparent though.

Elder Oaks continued, "Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality.... When we understand that God offers us opportunities for blessings and blesses us through our own adversities and the adversities of others we can understand why he has commanded us again and again to thank the Lord thy God in all things."

Although I do not understand why some things happen or what I am supposed to be learning I trust that God has a plan for me and that the experiences I have are all part of a refining process to help me become more like he is.

I am thankful for the understanding that I have of who God is and why I am here at this time. I am thankful for being able to discern what is true from what is not. I am thankful for the opportunities I have to gain knowledge through my BYU education, wise family and friends and church leaders, the scriptures and living prophets, and else where. I am thankful for family. I am thankful for the adversities in my life and the lives of the people around me whom I love and care about because they humble me and motivate me to draw closer to my Savior.

I am thankful for my parent's example of devotion to God and to each other. I am thankful for the good example of my siblings and for their love and their ability to make almost anything funny. ;) I'm thankful for eating dinner together, playing basketball together (as long as Alicia and I got along), fun family vacations, going to the beach for sunsets, Sunday walks, mom and dad's generosity with all of us, listening to christmas music all year, Sammy the dog, cooking with mom, and dad's financial lessons like helping him mark off each expense on the credit card statement after finding the receipt.

I'm thankful for the examples of my extended family--for Gigi's willingness to sacrifice and make family the most important thing, for Grammma Meyers' work ethic and involvement with us, for Uncle Jim's example of life-long learning, for Aunt Debbie's kindness, for Aunt Judy's consideration, for Wendy's friendship and her story-telling ability, for the triplets, for Uncle Ken's example of refining the simple good life, for everyone who has served in the military: Gigi, Papa, Uncle Mike and Uncle Alan, David, Curtis and anyone else I'm missing, for growing up near cousins, and the so forth.

I'm thankful for being healthy and able to do many things like running, swimming, working outside, hiking, playing soccer and tennis and other sports, playing musical instruments, and communicating effectively (at least a lot of the time).

I'm thankful for being a TA for biology and working at the temple grounds. I'm also thankful for my research project that I got an ORCA grant for. I am also thankful my project will be done soon.

I'm thankful for Jamie and for many other great roommates. I'm thankful for my little apartment in Alta and that I feel comfortable there. I'm thankful for Ben's family and Julie's family and their kindness and inclusion of us. I'm thankful for my ward and friends I've made at BYU.

And last but not least, I'm thankful for BYU football and I'm thankful BYU won today.