Gratitude is informed joy, with an awareness of its source. Praise is generalized gratitude, directed to the Giver of joy but without specifying all of His gifts.
As Latter-day Saints prepared for a long journey to their new home in the Rocky Mountains, the Lord advised them how to express their joy during the journey and how to address the sorrow they would inevitably feel at times:
If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.
Doctrine and Covenants 136:28-29
Praise and thanksgiving go hand in hand. At least ten times in the book of Psalms, they are mentioned together. For example:
Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
Psalm 18:49; see also 1 Samuel 22:50
King Benjamin coupled these activities when he acknowledged the insufficiency of rendering “all the thanks and praise which [our] whole soul has power to possess” (Mosiah 2:20). When Alma and his people were delivered from bondage, “they gave thanks to God, yea, all their men and all their women and all their children that could speak lifted their voices in the praises of their God” (Mosiah 24:22). Ammon said, “Let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name” (Alma 26:8). And after the death of Jesus Christ, when the aftershocks of the earthquakes finally ended and the darkness dispersed, the mourning of the people “was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer” (3 Nephi 10:10).
Anyone who has made a serious attempt to list their blessings has recognized that it is a never-ending task. Even as we acknowledge God’s goodness, He continues to bless us, day by day and moment to moment. It is good to thank Him for specific gifts received, and it is also wise to praise Him as the ultimate Giver of all good gifts. (See James 1:17, Moroni 7:16.)
Today, I will express my joy in a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. I will thank God for specific gifts I have received, and I will also acknowledge His loving-kindness toward us.
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