Penance

I have got some serious repenting to do.

That was shown to me very strongly this last weekend.

So, I’d like to get that started by confessing. What was this terrible sin I’ve committed?

Ingratitude.

“And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.” -D&C 59: 21
And that tells me that, as sins go, ingratitude ranks pretty high up there.

I’ve been moping about with a “woe is me” kind of attitude for several weeks, now. It started with the technology troubles I’ve been having, and spread to my home, frustrations with my music, etc…

Then I started looking around and realized that as annoying as my niggling little petty problems were, there were others with worse ones. Family members facing their own mortality dealing with blood clots and cancers. Friends with children in the hospital. People living on the streets.

Suddenly my problems seemed pretty small.

And I think that’s the biggest reason why ingratitude is such a big sin. It completely turns you inward. It’s a moping for things you want but don’t have, to the exclusion of what you do have. And especially, to the exclusion of what you can give to others.

So, on Thanksgiving day, I was feeling very guilty. And not JUST for overeating.

A while ago, I wrote a song, inspired by one of Pres Hinkley’s “Six B’s”. I’ll include the lyrics here. The recording isn’t finished yet, but I’m hoping it will be soon.

Thank You
By Mark Hansen
10/23/01 1:09 PM

Thank you for the wind and the rain
Thank you for the love and the pain
Thank you for life again and again
Thank you, thank you

Thank you for the laughter in my ears
Thank you when a song brings me tears
Thank you for bringing me these years
Thank you, thank you

Thank you for the smell of fresh baked bread
Thank you for the pillows under head
Thank you for the sweet words that she said
Thank you, thank you

Thank you for my sons, my joy, my prize
Thank you for the giggles in their eyes
Thank you for the futures in their skies
Thank you, thank you

Thank you, thank you for the breath I owe to you
I’ll always owe you more, no matter what I do
I only hope that somehow I’ll come close to what is due

Thank you for my heart soul and mind
Thank you for the answers that I find
Thank you for your sacrifice so kind
Thank you, thank you

Thank you for the wind and the rain
Thank you for the love and the pain
Thank you for life again and again
Thank you, thank you




MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com