Thanksgiving

Many of the psalms encourage us to express our gratitude to God. For example:

• “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30).
• “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Psalm 95:2).
• “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).

These passages depict a spontaneous and joyful expression of thanks.

When Isaiah speaks of Israel’s return to Zion, he describes it in similar terms:

Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

Isaiah 51:3, 2 Nephi 8:3

At the end of a fourteen year mission, Ammon expressed his gratitude for the blessings God had given to the people he and his brothers had taught: “This is my joy,” he exclaimed, “and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever” (Alma 26:37).

In January 1847, as members of the church endured the winter in a camp beside the Missouri River, the Lord encouraged them to express their feelings of gratitude:

If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

Doctrine and Covenants 136:28

Today, I will follow the example of the ancient Israelites, the sons of Mosiah, and the Mormon pioneers in expressing my joy and gratitude to God for the many blessings I have received from Him.