2020-11-26
The Eternalist

Thanksgiving During a Pandemic

ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION
Questions are the portals of discovery. During this time of upheaval due to the coronavirus pandemic, we might ask ourselves: How can we be thankful during such a trial as this global pandemic?
President Nelson's Nov. 20th YouTube event "On the Healing Power of Gratitude​" emphasized that "counting blessings" has primacy over "recounting problems":
"Over my nine and a half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long lasting spiritual prescription."
President Nelson also listed many things to be thankful for, including our trials:
"We can even give thanks for our trials, from which we learn things we would not know otherwise."
Given this quote, we might then ask ourselves: What have we learned from our trials this year that we might not have known otherwise?
Mike Rowe was able to look on the humorous side of things, and find things to be thankful for that are unique to our situation this year:
"I’m thankful for toilet paper (even the weird, thin kind that frequently disappoints) and for the opportunity to use it indoors."
"This year, I’m thankful for the UPS driver, the FedEx driver and the Amazon Prime driver. I’m also thankful for the people at Zoom (even though I curse them) and the guy who just upgraded my internet connection (even though I had to wait a month for him to get to me)."
Whatever you have on your list of things to be thankful for this year, we hope it includes gratitude for an Eternal perspective. Happy Thanksgiving 2020!