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Thursday, March 26, 2009

En-route Thanksgiving

In 1 Nephi 2 the Lord commands Lehi to take his family from Jerusalem, leaving behind their inheritance, gold & silver and go into the wilderness, to the promised land. They come to the edge of the red sea, and after traveling for three days, pitch their tents. I love what happened next:

“And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God.”
(1 Nephi 2:7)

I love that. Lehi didn’t wait to give thanks until he had ‘arrived’ at his destination, but stopped en-route regularly (see 1 Nephi 5 & 7), to give thanks. I am sure when we are promised something or are seeking for a particular blessing or gift, when it is finally received we give thanks, but how many times do we stop en-route to give thanks for the journey we are taking – I know I need to do sooo much better with that. There are always offerings of a broken heart and contrite spirit to give along the way, and figurative altars to build, where we can stand still and thank the Lord for being with us on the journey.

So much to be thankful for, and thank goodness we have today to remember our blessings.

4 comments:

  1. MichelleMarch 26, 2009 8:59 AM

    thaks for the reminder--how true it is to that we are thankful at the end of our journey, but how important it is to express gratitude along the way.

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  2. rad6March 26, 2009 12:13 PM

    I have found that when I get a little "down" on life, if I amke a list, sometimes even just a mental list of my blessings... it changes everything... I loved elder Bednars talk last conference and the stroy he shared about the General Authority asking his wife to only express gratitude in her prayer. That was powerful to me and made me realize that I need to do that more often!

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  3. DannaMarch 26, 2009 4:35 PM

    Love love love this. I have been having a real big problem with being a bummed out old mom. My goal this year is to fing Joy in the journey, I think the right approch is just what you've written here. Give thanks before thanks is due.

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  4. The Scott FamilyMarch 27, 2009 5:11 PM

    I seldom stop en-route to give thanx...Like you say, its usually once we have recieved what we were asking for do we show gratitude and give thanx!I guess I never thought of it like this before, so thankyou for this post Sarah.I feel a little like the comment from Danna above,and about how to find Joy in the Journey and I think that one of the ways is to definately give thanx as we go!!

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Hope you have a brilliant day!!