Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity for us every year to count our blessings and reflect on the role that gratitude, selflessness, and love should play in our lives. In honor of this holiday, we’ve decided for our weekly blog post that we, as a family, will share some of the things that we are most grateful for.
Colton is thankful for his wives
Colton is thankful for his two wives, who are beautiful not only in outward appearance, but also in their characters and the values they have and express. He acknowledges that he is a less than perfect man, but with them standing beside him, it certainly helps somewhat to make up for his deficits. We’re grateful for our daughter. She’s strong-willed, but loving. She has brought joy into our lives. We’re looking forward to having more children and we are so thankful that Sadie has started us on that path.
Grateful for parents and siblings
We’re grateful for our parents and siblings. They’ve been so supportive of us, even when they haven’t always understood or agreed with us. We’re sure it’s a struggle for some of them, to face the judgement of the community for our choices. To have people wonder how we were raised. We have to unequivocally state that our parents raised us to be loving, God-fearing, charitable people. Any deficiencies we have are our own.
That being said, our belief in plural marriage (as well as other differing beliefs from the LDS church), no matter what the popular opinion may be, is not a deficiency. Our families didn’t teach us to believe this way. God did. Everyone is entitled to believe as they will, of course, but empathy is a virtue that we hold dear. We would never pretend to be in a position to look at someone else’s belief in monogamous marriage and cast judgement on them for choosing to live and believe that way. It saddens us that there are people who have chosen to look at our family and do the very same thing.
Grateful for family
We’re grateful for the rest of our family, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins that have supported us. Some haven’t accepted our beliefs and some have been… less than supportive. This life we’ve chosen hasn’t only been a refining fire for us as individuals. It’s also been an opportunity for us to learn who the people are that will stand by us, regardless of whether or not they agree with our beliefs. We’re even thankful for the ones who haven’t been supportive, who in some cases have even been antagonistic either directly or indirectly.
It hasn’t been easy to know that we’ve had family members that have responded this way. It’s been an opportunity for us to try to develop compassion and understanding, to empathize with their positions. It’s an ongoing struggle for us, but through charity (the pure love of Christ) we can continue to find forgiveness and hope in the future for mended bridges.
Grateful for employers
We’re grateful for our employers. We’re grateful for their trust in us and the opportunity that we have to work with them. We’re grateful for the opportunity we have to enjoy a lifestyle that allows us to work together and build together. We’re grateful for our animals and the role they play in contributing towards our livelihood. We’re thankful for the good people that we associate with at our places of work, as well as in our farming endeavors. Farming may be a hobby for us, but we’re grateful for the people who raise our food and fiber for a living and we’re blessed to enjoy even a small slice of the life that agriculture has to offer. As always, we’re grateful for the rain we’ve received this year and hope and pray continually that God will grant us an abundance of rain and snow in the coming months.
Grateful for our freedom
We’re thankful that we live in a land where freedom is preached, if not always perfectly practiced. We’re grateful for the liberty we enjoy and pray that the people of our nation will continue to make choices that promote freedom.
Grateful for friends
We’re grateful for old friends that have chosen to remain loyal friends, despite our differences in faith. It’s amazing how a life-event like this can really shine a spotlight on the people who are truly devoted friends and how the others fade into the background. We’re grateful also for new friends who share many of our beliefs and have been supportive as we have struggled and continue to struggle to find our place in a world that disapproves of our family and religion. They’ve been a safe-haven for us and I’m thankful for their fellowship and I look forward to continued development of our friendship.
Grateful for the gospel
We’re grateful for the gospel. We’re grateful for the faith that led our ancestors to this beautiful and choice land. Their sacrifices were tremendous. We’re thankful for the generations of people who struggled to keep the fullness of this gospel alive in the metaphorical wilderness, sometimes lacking in perfection perhaps, but also relying on faith and the blessings that God has promised for those who truly seek to follow the path that he has laid out for them.
Grateful for God’s Love
Above all else, on this day, we’re grateful for a loving God, our eternal and most holy Father, who has reawakened our faith, brought us to the path that he intended for us to walk, and blessed our lives immeasurably. We’re grateful for our faith in Jesus Christ and in his atonement. We’re each so far from being perfect and so grateful that we have a goal to strive towards. We’re thankful that when we make mistakes, when we lose our way, we have the opportunity to reach out in humility, repent, and strive to live a better life. We hope that we can be blessings in the lives of others.
From our family to yours, we wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.
