That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you. (Book of Mormon | Alma 34:38)
When I was younger, I had this as my favorite scripture because I am a huge fan of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy.
Now that I am a bit older and perhaps a weensy bit wiser, I love it for another reason entirely.
My life is truly blessed. I do not know true need. I have not experienced the hunger suffered daily by my brothers and sisters upon this earth whose names I do not know.
I have not been compelled to live in a military state with my rights apportioned to me by whatever regime has the biggest guns at the moment.
My family is free to pursue happiness in manifold dimension without let. We are free to travel, to dress in whatever fashion or un-fashion we so choose. I am free to post this blog and even say things that distress me without fear of reprisal or jail based upon an opinion that runs counter to that of someone in power.
I am thankful that God has blessed my life. I say that with the understanding that because I have been so blessed, He expects me to reach out as His hands and bless the lives of people not so fortunate in this world. God hasn't withheld blessings to His other Children as some bizarre condition of His Divine favor, but instead has allowed for sorrow in the world so that I can be grateful and learn to share my bounty with someone that lacks.
There are some who would determine that to be a dichotomy of circumstance, that some of God's Children are blessed beyond measure and others are lacking and in desperate circumstance.
In a world that is truly equal and fair, we would not allow despots to cruelly abuse their citizenry, starving them out of existence. We would intervene and make sure everyone was blessed to have freedom from oppression and freedom from hunger.
The Norman Rockwell paintings of the "Four Freedoms" are among my favorite works of art. As Children of God, we should all be blessed with being "Free From Want" - that is to say, the necessities of life are ready at hand. Sadly, this is not the case for multiplied millions who hunger, thirst and lack adequate shelter, clothing and medicines to survive and thrive.
The world has enough and to spare - if only the greedy would share.
"Freedom From Fear" is particularly poignant to me right now as I consider with adult understanding the many men and women who are working and living in harm's way - either because they chose the life of the military warrior protecting our freedoms, or because they are living in a war zone not of their choosing and from which they lack an escape.
As the guardians of freedom, we have a responsibility to shed the light of liberty upon all nations and into every darkened corner where a single soul is threatened for daring to speak up to say "This should not be so!"
The Rockwell painting of "Freedom of Worship" is especially important to me now because I know that there are those under the guise of being free to worship really mean that THEY ALONE want to be free to worship according to their fashion and they desire to achieve this by removing MY right and privilege to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of MY conscience.
It is important that people have the freedom to worship as they see fit. It is equally important to me that everyone understand that their personal freedom to worship should NEVER drown out or silence any other person's right to reach up to the God of their beliefs in the way that pleases them best. When we silence one, we silence all.
And that brings me to the last, and possibly the best, of the paintings, namely, "Freedom of Speech".
We live in an age of gold gilt cynicism. The speech of the popular and the noteworthy minority is celebrated above and beyond the speech of the common, the average and the often silent majority. Everyone has a voice - if only we choose to listen and truly HEAR what is being said.
Even in the walls of our own homes, how often do we shunt aside what is being said for our own interpretations of what is wisdom or even half-hear while tasked on other projects as we congratulate ourselves on our ability to multi-task?
By the way, multi-tasking is the grossest lie of all - it means that everything we are working on gets the shaft instead of the diamond standard of perfection. It means that nothing receives our best so that everything can receive an appointed portion of our worst under the guise that we are able to do much with little.
To be free means that we should be free to say "NO" when the trivial interferes with the Eternal.
It means that we are living in Thanksgiving daily because we are daily recognizing the eternal amongst the trappings of the mortal and temporary. To be free means that we understand our responsibility to bless the lives of others as we have been blessed through the sacrifice of our time and talents and energies.
To give thanks means that we gratefully receive ALL conditions of mortality, even those that are not optimal, and find the lesson we are meant to learn from the journey.
God is indeed good and worthy of more thanks than my works and words measure up to even on my best days.
What a blessing to know that each sunrise is a new opportunity to try and show and tell my Father in Heaven just how thankful I truly am!
Happy Thanksgiving, today and always.
