14. A Thanksgiving Message

A bishopric message published in the November 1996 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.

As we approach another Thanksgiving season, we express our thanks for the Lord’s tender mercies in all our lives. He has greatly blessed us as a people. We are witnesses of His enduring goodness and grace. We feel of His love and peace.

Each of us, of course, experiences our individual share of life’s challenges, heartaches, and disappointments. Sometimes we feel we are hit with more than our share when severe illness strikes or loved ones die or our hopes and dreams and aspirations seem to go unrealized. And yet, through it all, we really know—or can come to know if we don’t already—that it all has purpose, that it’s part of the Lord’s tutoring plan for our growth and development, that it’s a part of the schooling we signed up for before we came here. And so, once again, we have cause to be thankful and rejoice.

With the Psalmist, we can declare, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).

As your bishopric, we also say thanks to each of you for your support, your prayers, your love, and your friendship. They mean a lot to us. We love you. We pray for you constantly. And we invoke the blessings of heaven upon you as you seek to love and serve one another, knowing full well that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).

May God bless you ever and always.