An upward path into the mountains \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I published this column in the Deseret News<\/em> on Thanksgiving Day 2014:<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very high-ranking Church leader (also now deceased) who had been asked to address a group of local senior service missionaries and their wives at their annual Christmas dinner.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the program proceeded, various stories were related to illustrate the great things that this group of devoted volunteers had accomplished during the year then nearing its end.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the Church leader, still waiting to offer his concluding remarks, was growing concerned at what struck him as the evening\u2019s self-congratulatory tone.<\/span><\/p>\nFinally, his turn came to speak.\u00a0 He had been allotted roughly half an hour, but he jettisoned his prepared text.\u00a0 Instead, he simply opened his scriptures to Mosiah 2:20-21, and read it to his audience:<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another\u2014I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe then bore a brief testimony of Christ and sat down.\u00a0 The rebuke was quiet but unmistakable, and my friend had remembered it for years by the time he told me about it.<\/span><\/p>\nToday is a day for giving thanks\u2014uniquely and officially so in America, but appropriately so everywhere\u2014for the remarkable blessings that we enjoy.\u00a0 We have far more to be grateful for than we can begin to recognize or enumerate, and it should leave us deeply humble.<\/span><\/p>\nWe enjoy food, nourished by soil and weather we didn\u2019t create, that we neither planted nor harvested.\u00a0 It\u2019s brought to us via roads and rails and ships constructed by people whose names we don\u2019t know, and we prepare it with fuels and implements that we didn\u2019t produce.<\/span><\/p>\nWe communicate worldwide virtually for free.\u00a0 Films, computers, television, and radio put almost unlimited information at our fingertips, including remarkable ways of researching family history.<\/span><\/p>\nWe benefit from a level of nutrition, health, and comfort that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, many of whom suffered throughout their lives from rotten teeth and incurable ailments.\u00a0 Only a few generations ago, even the simplest diseases stymied the best physicians.\u00a0 Dentists and surgeons did their work without sterilization or anesthesia.\u00a0 But, until fairly recently, there were no hip replacements or arthroscopic knee surgeries anyway, and, not very long before that, there were no aspirin tablets and no corrective lenses.\u00a0 If you had a headache, you simply endured it until it went away.\u00a0 If your eyes or knees went bad, you lived with it until you died.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPrior to a couple of centuries ago, all transportation was on foot, or on or behind an animal, or blown by the wind.\u00a0 Ramses II, Augustus Caesar, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and George Washington all traveled roughly the same way.\u00a0 Today, by contrast, we cruise along comfortably in climate-controlled bubbles at speeds they never knew, listening to the Beatles (including John Lennon and George Harrison, who\u2019ve been dead for years) or to the Vienna Philharmonic.<\/span><\/p>\nWe typically take this all for granted.\u00a0 We even complain about it.\u00a0 Several years ago, I found myself wedged between two strangers on a flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City.\u00a0 The flight attendant gave me only pretzels, and the flight dragged on for more than four hours!\u00a0 Suddenly though, I thought of the handcart pioneers.\u00a0 Only 150 years before, they had followed essentially the same route, thousands of feet below me, over rivers, through brush and rocks, under rain and sometimes snow, requiring several months to complete their journey.\u00a0 My whining might not have impressed them favorably.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd the Gospel is on earth again.\u00a0 In other words, to put it flippantly, we\u2019ve won the cosmic lottery. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPraise God, from whom all blessings flow;<\/span><\/p>\nPraise him, all creatures here below;<\/span><\/p>\nPraise him above, ye heavenly host;<\/span><\/p>\nPraise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.<\/span><\/p>\nA very happy Thanksgiving to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Chicago, Illinois<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: \u00a0 Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very high-ranking Church leader (also now deceased) who had been asked to address a group of local senior service missionaries and their wives at their annual Christmas dinner. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/10\/800px-Autumn_mountain_trail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html\",\"name\":\"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)","description":" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)","og_description":" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/10\/800px-Autumn_mountain_trail.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html","name":"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-19T05:43:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" I published this column in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2014: Many years ago, a friend (now deceased) told me about a very","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/thoughts-thanksgiving-3.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thoughts for Thanksgiving (3)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Autumn](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/10\/800px-Autumn_mountain_trail.jpg\")
<\/a>