20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another–
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another–I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
King Benjamin taught his people an important principle about gratitude in these verses: we have so much to be grateful for that we can’t possibly thank Heavenly Father enough for His blessings. As an example, Benjamin points out that God preserves us from day to day “by lending [us] breath.” I like his choice of the verb “lending.” It sounds temporary and uncertain, like something we can’t take for granted. We know that we can’t take breathing for granted of course. We know that we have very little control over our bodies. None of us would set a goal to “add one cubit to his stature” (3 Nephi 13:27). That would be ludicrous. We can’t control it. Likewise, so many processes which enable us “to live and move and do according to [our] own will,” including the antibodies which destroy harmful bacteria, the digestive system which processes the food we eat and gives us energy. The fact that we sleep when we’re tired, that our skin replenishes itself, and that our muscles respond to the messages from our brain, often performing complex actions which we have learned years before and which we now do instinctively without having to think about in detail. We take so many things for granted, little remembering on a given day how small our own contribution is to our comfort and happiness and how much of a role the continuing blessings of God play in our lives.
Today, I will count blessings I don’t normally count. I will remember that I can’t thank my Heavenly Father enough for the numerous blessings I take for granted nearly every day. I will be grateful that He not only created me, but that He is also preserving and supporting me today.
Today, I will count blessings I don’t normally count. I will remember that I can’t thank my Heavenly Father enough for the numerous blessings I take for granted nearly every day. I will be grateful that He not only created me, but that He is also preserving and supporting me today.