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Show 1 st Presidency Message Given for Thanksgiving The First Presidency, the chief governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has issued the following message in commemoration of Thanksgiving Day, 1978: "This Thanksgiving season, we urge all mankind to remember, rejoice in, and express deep gratitude for the bounteous blessings bestowed upon us by our Father in Heaven. "Especially do we have cause to rejoice in those parts of the world where freedom and peace abound. So let us also rejoice in efforts to establish peace in some strife-ridden areas and pray for similar progress in all unsettled corners of the earth. "We find in the words of sacred scripture the appropriate pattern for our observance of this significant holiday: 'Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.' (Doctrine and Covenants 59:7(. '...Let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks...' (Doctrine and Covenants 98:1). "In this spirit as far back as 1578, some of the earliest settlers in Newfoundland set aside a day for prayers of thanksgiving. Likewise, Thanksgiving Day was established among the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth more than 40 years later in grateful remembrance for a fruitful and abundant harvest. "Now, in observance of this centuries-old tradition, we who live today should also rejoice and offer reverence to God. May our praises be lifted, not only for the abundance of food which graces our tables on Thanksgiving Day and through the year as well, but especially for the divinely granted gifts of life and freedom and the privilege of worshiping wor-shiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience. "In considering how to manifest our appreciation, we should ponder the difference between thanks, so often of-ten mere words, and gratitude, 'the sign of noble souls,' as Aesop expressed ex-pressed it. Albert Schweitzer wisely reminded us, 'In gratitude for your own good fortune you must render in return some sacrifice of your life for other life.' "In other words, gratitude means living life as the author of eternal salvation would have us live. It means serving our neighbor; it means freely sharing our time and our talents, talen-ts, turning opportunities into achievements which better the lives of others, beautifying our surroundings. surroun-dings. It means being responsible parents, children and citizens, fashioning peace in our homes, and thus in our communities and the world. Thanksgiving is also a time for memories, for recalling and learning anew from experience, both bitter and sweet. It is a time to remember our noble forebears whose sacrifices preserved for our heritage all that makes life meaningful." |