Grateful No Matter What

By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

Adapted from “Grateful in Any Circumstances” Ensign, May 2014, 70–77.

We can choose to be grateful.

Everyone’s life is different, but all of us experience hard times. Sometimes we may feel sad or lonely. Sometimes we may be sick or confused. But there is one thing we can always do to make life sweeter and more joyful. We can be grateful!

It’s easy to count our blessings when life is going well. But the Lord also expects us to be thankful during hard times. Instead of being thankful for things, we can be thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.

We can choose to be like the Mormon pioneers. During their slow and painful trek toward the Great Salt Lake, they sang and danced and praised God instead of complaining about how hard the journey was.

We can choose to be like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was a prisoner in Liberty Jail. While there, he wrote a letter encouraging the Saints to “cheerfully” do good things and have faith in God (D&C 123:17).

Being grateful during hard times does not mean that we are happy with our circumstances. It does mean that we have faith to look beyond our challenges. When we are grateful, we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true. By being grateful, we follow the example of our beloved Savior, who said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

May we “live in thanksgiving daily” (Alma 34:38). May we always show by word and deed our gratitude to our Father in Heaven and to His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.