Beauties of This Earth

                Whenever I have a hymn running through my mind, I consider it to be a hint from my loving Heavenly Father.  Today I have been humming a hymn of thanksgiving and thought that the first of November would be an appropriate time to begin talking about gratitude for our many blessings.

                The hymn I am referring to is “For the Beauty of the Earth” written by Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917) with music by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872).  This is a beautiful hymn and very appropriate to help focus our thoughts on the many blessings we enjoy.

               

                For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies,

                For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies,

                Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

                For the beauty of each hour Of the day and of the night,

                Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r, Sum and moon, and stars of light,

                Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

                For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child,

                Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild,

                Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

                I live in a very beautiful part of the world with majestic mountains and beautiful greenery surrounding me.  At the current time, the mountain peaks are covered with beautiful white snow, and the snow makes the mountains stand out even more against the gorgeous blue skies.

                I have learned to see beauty in all areas.  When I first traveled through the northern Utah-southern Idaho area and saw the short rounded and brown-colored hills, I found it to be very bland and unimpressive.  Each time I drove through the area, I found more and more beauty. 

                I thought the flat lands of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma to be very monotonous when I first traveled through that area.  I soon learned to appreciate the rolling hills of Missouri, the beautiful trees and fields in Kansas, and limestone in Oklahoma.  It seems there is beauty wherever I go in this land.

                I am grateful for this beautiful world created for you and for me by our Savior Jesus Christ under the direction of our loving Heavenly Father.  I know They created this wonderful world for us that we could come here to gain bodies and to become like Them.  I am very grateful for this knowledge as well as this beautiful world.