The following is shared in our recently released “It is Well With My Soul” Gratitude Journal. To get your copy, CLICK HERE. Use code THANKYOU25 for an additional 25% off. 

Gordon B. Hinckley, who served as the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1995 to 2008, shared a story from his father that I’ve never forgotten.

He tells of two young boys, one a bit older than the other, walking along a road which led through a field. Among the weeds at the roadside, they spotted an old coat and a nearly worn-out pair of men’s shoes. Off in the distance, they saw the owner working in the field.

The younger boy suggested that they hide the shoes, then hide themselves and watch the owner’s confusion when he returned. His older friend didn’t think that would be so good. Looking at the thinning coat and faded boots, he said the owner must be a very poor man. So, after a moment of discussion between them, they decided that, instead of hiding the shoes, they would put a silver dollar in each one. Then, they would hide and watch what the owner did when he discovered the treasure.

“Pretty soon, the man returned from the field,” shared President Hinckley, “put on his coat, slipped one foot into a shoe, felt something hard, took it out and found a silver dollar. Wonder and surprise [shone] upon his face. He looked at the dollar again and again, turned around and could see nobody, then proceeded to put on the other shoe; when to his great surprise he found another dollar. His feelings overcame him. … He knelt down and offered aloud a prayer of thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife being sick and helpless and his children without bread. … He fervently thanked the Lord for this bounty from unknown hands and evoked the blessing of heaven upon those who gave him this needed help.”

The boys heard every word, though remained hidden until the man had gone. “They had been touched by his prayer and felt something warm within their hearts. As they left to walk down the road, one said to the other, ‘Don’t you have a good feeling?’”

Hopefully, we can be like the older boy, who had learned with a little more age, that it is better to give than to take; and like the man from the field who, when he found he had been unexpectedly gifted a bounty, knew to stop that very moment and be thankful. He did not see his struggles as ways the Lord had neglected him, but saw this blessing as a way the Lord was taking care of him. I’m sure those boys never forgot what it felt like to be the Lord’s angels for one summer afternoon.

(President Gordon B. Hinckley originally adapted this story from his father Bryant Hinckley’s book, Not By Bread Alone. He also shared it in his own book, Way to Be.)

The above is shared in our recently released “It is Well With My Soul” Gratitude Journal. To get your copy, CLICK HERE. Use code THANKYOU25 for an additional 25% off.