We have so much for which to give thanks.
First, we are thankful for God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. "Under the plan of the Father, He created this beautiful world for us. Through His prophets, He revealed the plan of salvation with its accompanying commandments and ordinances. He came into mortality to teach and show us the way. He suffered and paid the price for our sins if we would repent. He gave up His life, and He conquered death and rose from the grave that we all will live again. He is the Light and Life of the World. What a wonderful invitation we have to come unto my Eternal Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and His promise: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). I am thankful for prayer, which brings forth inspiration and revelation from God for the blessing of His church and people. I believe in prayer, the precious and wonderful privilege given each of us for our individual guidance, comfort, and peace."*
We give thanks for the revealed truths. As "The Bible teaches, the Lord gave us apostles and prophets “for the perfecting of the saints” (see Eph. 4:11–12). We use the revealed truth they give us, “that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14). Those who view every calamity and measure every new assertion or discovery against the standard of revealed truth need not be “tossed to and fro” but can be steady and at peace. God is in His heavens, and His promises are sure. What an anchor to the soul in these troubled times!"*
We give thanks for commandments. "They are directions away from pitfalls, and they are invitations to blessings. Commandments mark the path and show us the way to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come."*
We are thankful for the Holy Ghost. We have a sincere gratitude for the Holy Ghost as the Comforter and for the gifts of the Spirit that enable us to face adversity and to serve others. We are thankful Holy Ghost as a companion, which can teach us, guide us, and help us feel peace in our hearts and testifies to us that Jesus is the Christ.
We give thanks for this beautiful earth. -"The earth in its pristine beauty is an expression of the nature of its Creator. The language of the opening chapter of Genesis intrigues me. It states that “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2). I suppose it presented anything but a picture of beauty. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). And so the creation continued until “God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).I interpret this to mean that it was beautiful, for “out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight” (Gen. 2:9)." **
We give thanks for the wonders of the human body and the miracle of the human mind. "Have you ever contemplated the wonder of yourself, the eyes with which you see, the ears with which you hear, the voice with which you speak? No camera ever built can compare with the human eye. No method of communication ever devised can compare with the voice and the ear. No pump ever built will run as long or as efficiently as the human heart. What a remarkable thing each of us is. Look at your finger. The most skillful attempt to reproduce it mechanically has brought only a crude approximation. The next time you use your finger, look at it, and sense the wonder of it. While sitting in a symphony hall listening to a concert, I was in a position to see the fingers of the performers in the orchestra. Every one, whether playing the strings, the percussion instruments, the brass, the woodwinds—all used their fingers. One does not have to use one’s fingers to sing or whistle, but beyond that, there would be little of musical harmony without the deft action of trained fingers. The human body is the creation of Divinity. George Gallup once observed, “I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone—the chance that all the functions of the individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity.” Our bodies were designed by our Eternal Father to be the tabernacles of our eternal spirits. What a miracle is the human mind. Think of its power to assimilate knowledge, to analyze and synthesize. What a remarkable thing is learning, the process whereby the accumulated knowledge of the centuries has been summarized and filtered so that in a brief period we can learn what was first learned only through long exercises of research and trial and error."**
We give thanks to our families and God's plan for us. "The greatest joys of life are experienced in happy family relationships. The most poignant of sorrows, the most bleak and forlorn feelings of misery come of unhappy family life. The family where there is a husband who regards his companion as his greatest asset and treats her accordingly; where there is a wife who looks upon her husband as her anchor and strength, her comfort and security; where there are children who look to mother and father with respect and gratitude; where there are parents who look upon those children as blessings and find a great and serious and wonderful challenge in their nurture and rearing. The cultivation of such a home requires effort and energy, forgiveness and patience, love and endurance and sacrifice; but it is worth all of these and more."**
We are thankful for each other. "What a therapeutic and wonderful thing it is for a man or woman to set aside all consideration of personal gain and reach out with strength and energy and purpose to help the unfortunate, to improve the community, to clean up the environment and beautify our surroundings. How much greater would be the suffering of the homeless and the hungry in our communities without the service of hundreds of volunteers who give of their time and substance to assist them. “It’s the best thing I do.” No man can live fully and happily who lives only unto himself. It was King Benjamin who said, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17)."**
We are thankful for our freedoms. "One important thing I’ve learned is that our freedom is not something we should take for granted. I’ve come to respect and honor those who have fought and those who have given their lives so we can enjoy the blessings and opportunities we have. The principles and philosophies upon which the U.S. constitutional law is based are not simply the result of the best efforts of a remarkable group of brilliant men. They were inspired by God, and the rights and privileges guaranteed in the Constitution are God-given, not man-derived. The freedom and independence afforded by the Constitution and Bill of Rights are divine rights—sacred, essential, and inalienable. In the 98th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord indicates that the “law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.” (D&C 98:5.) According to James Madison, often referred to as the father of the Constitution: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of the government—far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God”."***
* from: Dallin H. Oaks
** from: Gordon B. Hinkley
*** from: M. Russel Ballard
