Oct 7, 2006

Thank You

I tried to find a talk that I read many years ago given by President Faust. In it he teaches that the happiest man you will ever meet is the man who is grateful, for gratitude leads to humility and humility to the Spirit, and the Spirit to happiness.

There is no way this list will ever be complete. I will leave people off. Not purposely, but simply because my finite faculties are not able to process every last person and being and deed and blessing that I have been given.

I am thankful for:
  • Heavenly Father for providing a Savior.
  • Jesus Christ for providing mercy.
  • Mercy for giving me hope.
  • Hope for leading to faith.
  • Faith in Christ, who is the pentultimate Exemplar of charity.
  • Charity for giving me a lifestyle standard.
  • My lifestyle which makes me grateful.
  • Gratitude which makes me happy.
  • My testimony in all of this.
And now people for whom I am thankful. This is a list of my personal acquaintances, or it would never end:
  • My parents for loving me regardless of their circumstances or my own.
  • My siblings for sticking together and rallying around our family. You are all my heroes.
  • Danny for setting a high standard and motivating me to live up to it.
  • Terra for being a perfect example of motherly love.
  • Yuki for being true to her testimony in the end.
  • Joseph for teaching me about forgiveness.
  • Kristen for having the resilience to pull herself out of the gutter.
  • Kurt for inspiring my baby sister to love God.
  • Ian, Akiko and Savannah Rose for giving me a preview of what parental love is like.
  • Steve, my Young Men's advisor for many years, for making a telephone call to me when I was struggling. I used to call him once a year or so to thank him, and have failed to do so recently, but he is still close to me. He was there when I received my endowment.
  • Bishop Smith for welcoming me with love and sincerity into his ward.
  • Bishop Nay for giving me a blessing in July of 2004.
  • Larry for being a good man and a good stepfather.
  • Katie, Steve, Ralph, April, Jenna, Brad, Mendy, Ethan and Amber for nursing me back to spiritual life. Can you be more Christian than that? Only Christ can restore life, and these acted as his hands.
  • Stacy for helping me get through some tough glitches, and practicing communication with me...even though we have our bumps in the road, they never deter our relationship. She has helped me see me for who I really am.
  • Chelsie for giving me something for which to learn patience, for occupying my time with wholesomeness and being an example of compassion. She is worth it. I am a better man for it, and for her.
  • Jake for consistently bringing the Spirit into our home.
  • Derek for making me go out and dendo one night shortly after I received word that my folks had divorced, and just riding the train with me and listening to me. Being a missionary does not trump being a Latter-day Saint, and that evening that is what he was to me, and a real friend. You may have forgotten, Derek, but I haven't. It was the day Niiyama Shimai had her reception in the Kichijoji church house.
  • Raleigh for sitting out front of his apartment until all hours of the morning teaching me about existential philosophy and discussing the quality of living. In addition, he has been an example of volunteerism and charity, continuing to serve others in the face of his struggles. What kind of person donates time to be an interpreter to a Japanese girl and her mother at Primary Children's Hospital because nobody else will do it? Raleigh Morgan.
  • Michael New for giving me advice on a drive home from Melanie Clark's house. That advice literally saved me from myself, and was passed on to each of my sisters.
  • Sarah for lessons learned the hard way, but ultimately bringing me to the me that I am now, in whom I am satisfied, and so is my Lord.
  • Steve and Nick for continuing their service to me and being my friend after all these years, although our proximity is quite different.
  • Brother Norman for stimulating my spirit in a way that no other professor of the Gospel has, within my circle of acquaintances.
  • The Wecker Family for being a living organism made up of individual people in a family that seems to never want for charity.
  • Kacy for always caring. Always. No, really, it's been months since our last rendezvous and she just called me to perpetuate our friendship. Little wonder she is serving in her current capacity. She takes the Gospel as reality and I just try to follow.
  • Robert Smith, with whom I can be completely honest. He knows all of my secrets, and is only one of two people outside of my family who does. He never judged me or made me feel lesser of a man, but recognized that I needed a hand, which he extended, and has done so many times.
  • Mr. Takagi, for going to prison instead of repudiating the Book of Mormon. I don't know if he ever got baptised or ever will, but I don't worry about him in regards to his salvation. He stood firm before a council of the elders of his church and bore testimony of Joseph Smith, and was consequently turned over to the law for illegal bookkeeping that he did at the behest of those same church leaders. He has given me the best compliment that I have ever received in my entire life. A telephone call at 2:45 in the morning found me speaking with him, trying to graciously brush off his overkind compliments. "Don't thank me," I asked him, "thank Jesus Christ." He came back with: "Elder Brady, you are my Jesus Christ. You are Jesus Christ to me. You have brought to me his true gospel." It still makes me weep.
...and I could go on. And on and on and on. I have the best life, despite my difficulties, my depression, my interpersonal affairs which sometimes bring me pain. I am additionally grateful for this chance that I have had to reflect upon my own life's journey and see the whos and the whens and wheres behind some significant occurences that have led me to ME.

Ultimately and again, I would thank Jesus Christ. I know that he is real. He has visited me in dreams and visions both in and out of the temple, he has spoken to my mind through the Spirit and almost audibly, it seemed at times. He holds me when I fall into depression and sends the people listed above rushing to my aid. He forgets that I ever sinned each time I repent, yet forgets me not--the proof of which is engraven into the palms of his hands. His gospel pushes me to my limits and forces me to become a better man, in preparation for future callings, namely husband and father. Will I rise up from the dust and be that man? Only because of him. All that I am that is noble and good is a reflection on my Lord.

Thank you, everybody, for being a part of my life. I love you all.