An Attitude of Gratitude

Three days ago, I came down with the stomach flu for the first time in my life. At first, I feared that it was food poisoning - following an unwise decision to give West Bountiful's new Five Guys Burgers and Fries place a try - but this was not the case. Anyway, as a result of coming down with the stomach flu, I got to spend much of the weekend with my stomach grumbling non-stop as if it were digesting concrete, while multiple times each day it has felt like I have been giving birth to all of my internal organs . . . if you catch my drift.

Fortunately, I am feeling much better over the past 24 hours or so. The feeling that has overwhelmed me today - whether as a result of the feelings of the previous three days or not, I don't know - is one of immense gratitude for all of my many blessings.

Being sick always helps put things into perspective for me. It helps me to realize how truly well things are going for me and how truly blessed I am when I'm not sick. It's like the line in the song "Opposition" from My Turn on Earth (one of my all-time favorite musicals - really!): "You've got to be sick to be grateful for your health." It's a simple-but-true message.

A good friend also helped to put it into perspective for me by telling me of a friend's boy, already suffering with lukeimia, who had been diagnosed with the swine flu on top of that.

As soon as I learned of this sad story, I suddenly felt much better.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about a lesson that Mike Adams, our ward's high counselor, gave in elders quorum last month, in which he talked about going to the temple only with the attitude of being grateful for things, rather than wanting to ask for something (as we are wont to do when we go to the temple), and how this attitude greatly enhanced and enriched his temple-going experiences after that. It is a lesson that I have reflected on a lot since.

Looking around me today, I couldn't help but find just about everything I was grateful for in my life close by: family, who I got to spend the afternoon with, including my three favorite nephews (okay, so I have only three; I'm not picking favorites); the great people in my ward; taco soup, shared with good friends; the gospel's restored truths - the list goes on and on.