A Change of Outlook; A Change of Prayers
There once was a good lady who had been sick for some time, and just wasn’t getting well. Despite all she could do and even blessings that had been give her, she wasn’t well yet. “What should I do?” she asked Elder Spencer W. Kimball. His counsel to her was this: Notice every single tiny improvement that came and give thanks for it. Simple as that. She tried it and rather than pleading to get well, gave thanks for the tiniest of improvements, and left it at that. The total healing eventually came.
Karen Christopherson recently told a similar story about a young sister missionary who was having trouble learning the language of her mission. She did all she could, studied long hours, but felt she had reached a plateau and was not improving. She asked for a blessing and a priesthood holder came to give her one. But before he began, he stopped and was directed to give her counsel instead: Notice every tiny improvement and give thanks for it. And keep moving forward. That she did, and eventually the language came (May 3, 2019 keynote address at BYU Women’s Conference).
What happened both times? It was a change of focus. Our brains are so powerful and they help us reach the goals we give them. So when we focus on what we lack, that plateau becomes our goal. But when we focus on the progress we are making—such as by giving thanks for every one of the tiniest of improvements, our focus is on improvement. That is what becomes our goal, and eventually, our reality. In gospel language, this is HOPE.
My friend, a mother of six children, suddenly lost her husband from a fatal illness. At first, she supported her family as a schoolteacher. But then, she decided to start her own business. Boy, was it tough—to run the business and all that entailed, and still meet the needs of two teenagers and four littler children. One day she was fed up with all the interruptions from her family, when she really needed to get some work done! She was ready to have a melt-down, when suddenly, a new thought came. “Wait a minute,” she told herself: “I choose this!” She realized how grateful she was to be able to be home with her kids—despite all the chaos—and still support her family. Her prayers turned to gratitude. And, focusing on that, things improved.
“Remember, brothers and sisters, always that hope is an important part of the gospel plan,”Elder Ulisses Soares recently reminded us (Ensign May 2019, p.8). To me hope means an optimistic looking forward to good things that happen from living the best we know how. Ultimately, it means the hope of an everlasting happiness, after we endure as well as we can, this world and all that living life brings. Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and His hand in our lives, both short term and long term.
May we notice His merciful hand, by giving thanks for the smallest of blessings. And the great big ones too. May we program our brains to notice even the tiniest of steps forward, and give thanks for them! May we tweak our outlook to be full of Hope.