Thanksgiving- Giving Thanks!

I wrote this poem my Senior year in High school when our house was going through some remodeling. I feel it still applies.

Thanks be to God

Of all the things I’m thankful for
There’s many that come to mind.
All the ones you think about
When you think of Thanksgiving.

A warm house, a loving family, a bed to sleep in,
A coat, some boots, gloves, and other warm clothes.
But then there are the things everyone takes for granted.
Those are the things I’m most thankful for at this time.

An electrical outlet, how wonderful to plug things in.
A kitchen sink, the ability to do dishes without dragging water from the tub.
An oven, what a fabulous thing to have warm food.
A microwave, it’s nice to be able to warm things up quickly and efficiently.

I’m thankful for the good times I have with my family,
All the snowball fights – the “old men” against the young kids
I love to watch a mother say she’ll regret it, but throwing a snowball at her son anyway.
I love to watch a twenty year old man become a kid again as he gently wrestles his cousin to the ground.

I’m thankful for pain, because without it we could never enjoy not having it.
I’m thankful for illness, because without it we couldn’t enjoy being well.
I’m thankful for my mother, who has helped me through hard times.
She has, at times, been the only one to understand me, and pull me through.

But of all the things I’m thankful for
I think the ones I’m thinking of most
Is love and life and most of all,
The reminder of thing I’m thankful for.

I'm amazed at the small, insignificant things that we tend to over look when thanking, but that enrich our lives greatly. That was most of the point of this poem. I was looking for things that I didn't usually think of when I give thanks. When I think about how richly I've been blessed in my life, it almost overwhelms me. Who can not believe in God when you look at all the beautiful things around us. Yes, there are also horrible things, but when looked at in the right perspective, almost anything can be turned for good. God told Adam that the ground would be cursed for his sake . How often do we just look at the negative side and not recognize that this, perhaps bad, thing happened for our sakes.
While on my mission, one of my companions told me a story about a lady who could not get along with her mother-in-law. She tried, she prayed, she visited the temple, but she still butted heads with her. One day, while in the temple, she had the thought "what if, this lady had loved me so much before this life that she volunteered to help me grow, even if it meant that I might not love her in this life. If I knew that, how could I keep from running to her and sobbing out my thanks?" Heavenly Father loves us more than any of us are capable of loving someone. He could take us out of bad situations, he could give us an ideal life, but he doesn't. Why? Because if he did, we might not be able to make it back to his presence someday. With that in mind, how can we keep from dropping to our knees at night and sobbing out our thanks for all our many trials? It is through them that it is possible to return. God doesn't like to see us hurting, but he allows it so that we can come back to him in the long run.
I'm so thankful.