Day 12: The 10 Lepers

** Before beginning, I must apologize for the delay of the next couple posts. I had some unavoidable technical errors on Friday and on Saturday I choose spending my day in the temple over going to the library to finish these. But it's a good way to start the week- with lots of scriptures and inspirational quotes so I can't complain too much. Also, whoever you are, my dear Christmas angel, you may never know how incredibly grateful I am.

 

Day 12: (Luke 17:11-19)

"Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The expressed gratitude by one merited the Master’s blessing, the ingratitude shown by the nine, His disappointment.

Like the leprosy of yesteryear are the plagues of today. They linger; they debilitate; they destroy. They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries. We know them as selfishness, greed, indulgence, cruelty, and crime, to identify but a few. Surfeited with their poison, we tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and, slowly but surely,to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life.

 

We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."

- President Monson, Attitude of Gratitude

 

My mother taught me to be grateful growing up. I am never without a pack of thank you cards and I'm uncomfortable until I feel I can adequately express gratitude for help or kindness. Gratitude is important, for both the giver and the receiver. Recently, I had one of those moments of gratitude that was such a tender mercy for me. In giving out Christmas cards and little tokens this year, I have been desperately trying to give in order to feel the Christmas spirit. It's been a rough couple months. Though I haven't yet given gifts to my closest friends and family members, I started last week with friends and acquaintances. I should preface this with clarifying that I believe love is a gift and since every token of love is a gift I firmly believe that I should give without expecting anything in return. But as I continued to pass out cards, I was a little depressed to see that not only were the token cards not reciprocated, but a simple thank you was overlooked. So this last week when I gave a friend I really care about his Christmas card, I was content that he said thank you quietly and slipped the card into his bag. But early the next morning, I received a text from him expressing gratitude for the card and small gift. It was completely unexpected and it made my day. Not to mention it came on the heels of several incredibly difficult days. That thank you not only turned that day around, but reminded me just how important gratitude really is.