A Thanksgiving Advantage

You know that movie where something happens to the guy and he gets amnesia? Yeah, that guy. Then he spends the rest of the show trying to solve a crime or something.

We are that guy.

Everyone single one of us on this earth is an amnesiac of sorts. We don’t remember what happened to us before we got here. In religious terms, we call it “passing through the veil of forgetfulness.”  Same idea.

Now, going the other direction, there are a lot of people who have no idea as to what happens after this life either. Some have just decided that the answer is an absolute nothing. When we die, it is over. Done. Fini!

Now, let that settle in for a minute and think about how thinking that way might impact your life. If there was nothing before, and nothing after, then all there is is now. Today. This moment.

What would that look like? A free-for-all.

Turn on the news. That’s what it looks like. People have been tossing aside aside ideals of morality and community in order to pursue their own interests since the beginning. And why not?  Korihor (the Anti-Christ) explained it this way:

“…every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime.

And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.” (Alma 30: 17-18)

Makes sense, right? If it all ends when we are dead, we may as well say, “…eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die…” (2 Nephi 28:7)

The problem there is that that path does not lead to happiness, rather to chaos and entropy. Again – turn on the news.

As we make the run up to Thanksgiving this week, I know that there are people out there who don’t care, or even worse, they hate this particular holiday. Some blow right past it to get to Christmas. Sadder still, some do not feel a sense of “gratitude” for anything – because frankly – their life sucks. It is tragic.

Broken hearts and homes, serious illness, financial disasters, family problems, shattered hopes and dreams, fear, etc. All of these things, and more can strip the hope right out of our lives – and as hope diminishes, so does a sense of gratitude. Most people aren’t apt to sing praises to God in their Job-like moments – they would more likely follow the advice of Job’s friends to “curse God, and die.” (Job 2:9)

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a distinct advantage when it comes to finding ways to be thankful:

Perspective.

Through ancient and modern prophets, we have a perspective that is wildly different than most people. It is also much broader than most. We can read in several places where the Lord took a newly-called prophet on a journey through time to see the beginning to the end – kind of a “prophet-prep” course on perspective. And they shared these visions with us. Why?

Because when we can see how it started, all the way through to how things end up, it makes what we are doing now – right this very moment – a part of a much larger picture. A picture that make sense.

Suddenly, all the heartache, misery, suffering, trials and challenges are also part of that bigger picture. A picture that can have a very, very happy ending. And therein exists hope.

If we find ourselves in a dark place where we can’t find anything to be thankful for (and it doe happen), then we have lost perspective. We are caught up in the misery of the moment, and turning a blind eye to the timeline of our existence that stretches out – infinitely – in both directions.

When Joseph Smith was struggling with his perspective in Liberty Jail, the Lord gave him what for:

“And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into thehands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.“ (D&C 122:7)

We should be, as a people, and individually, the most thankful people on the planet. When it comes to making lists of things to be thankful for, our problem should be writer’s cramp. We have a perspective and insight into what really matters. We know how things will end up – we already know which team wins. We understand why life sucks sometimes. We know the purpose of suffering and trials.

We know God. We know he has a plan for us. We know we can emerge victorious.

We understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and through the ordinances of the gospel, we have access to it. Relatively few people on the Earth can make that statement.

I am thankful for the knowledge God has shared with us, and the increased perspective it gives us. There is more than this. There is more than now.

So much more.

Here are a few links to General Conference talks that deal with hope and perspective:

“The Reason for Our Hope.”  President Boyd K. Packer

“Hope.” Elder Steven E. Snow

“The Infinite Power of Hope.” President Deiter F. Uchdorf