President Hinckley taught us many things to be, but out of them all, the one I have learned the most from is “be grateful.”
President Gordon B. Hinckley addressed young adults in a general conference talk “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer For Youth.” In this talk, he introduces six “B’s” to apply in our lives:
Photo by Patrick Fore
- Be grateful
- Be smart
- Be clean
- Be true
- Be humble
- Be prayerful
The one “be” that was most impactful to me was to “be grateful.” President Hinckley tells us to be grateful for many things: our friends, our family, our opportunities. But most of all, he tells us to be grateful to God, the one who gives us all of these things.
As a child, my parents told me that I was going to further my education, whether I liked it or not. Although I wanted to further my education, I was a teenager, and you can imagine just how much I was against them making decisions for me. Every time I was asked about my future, I would say, “I don’t know. When the time comes, I will make that decision on my own.” My parents would continue to encourage me by saying that attending school would help me decide what to do. In February 2015, I was asked to apply for a summer camp that would later benefit me for college. The time came; I needed to make the big decision. I sat in my room, thinking about what I should do. I knelt on the floor and prayed to know what I should do. The answer I received was that I needed to further my education at a school away from home. I needed to leave the comfort of my parents’ home. They had already given me many opportunities; it was time for me to learn to live life on my own.
As a teenager, I didn’t have the perspective on this moment that I have now. Looking back on this moment with gratitude has taught me a lot. Gratitude now helps me appreciate the care and concern of my parents and the patterns of faith that they taught me. Gratitude helped me see the love in their actions. Now I let gratitude continue to guide my perspective in times of decision or struggle in my life. As we follow President Hinckley’s guidance to “be grateful,” we can recognize God’s loving guidance in our lives the way I recognized the love of my parents in mine.
Read about or listen to the other 5 “Be’s” that President Gordon B. Hinckley tells us to apply in our lives in “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer For Youth.”
Source: Ensign
—Isabella Nuñez, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY TIMOTHY EBERLY
Find more insights
Read a fellow Latter-day Saint Insights writer Cynthia Chan’s article “The Six B’s and Why They Matter” for her take on the six “B’s.”
Check out another fellow Latter-day Saint Insights writer Elizabeth James’ article “Gratitude is Key: How to Be Happy in Hard Times.” She talks about how to be grateful during times of struggle.