From that beginning, Nephi’s gratitude never faltered. Even when he was tied up by his brothers, when his ankles and wrists were raw and “swollen exceedingly,” and when a storm violently tossed the boat on the waves, Nephi said, “Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions” (1 Ne 18:16).

Nephi’s attitude of gratitude was very likely spawned by his “goodly parents.”. One of the greatest scriptural examples of gratitude can be found by observing Nephi’s father, Lehi, after he and his family have literally given up nearly every temporal thing they have worked for their entire life and have left all these comforts for something uncomfortable—the wilderness.

After leaving their precious possessions and their homeland, one of Lehi’s first objectives as patriarch is to build an altar and give thanks. I am not sure if any father could teach gratitude any better than that. I can almost hear his prayer as he offers it in front of his family: Dear Heavenly Father, Thanks for the tent, the dust, the hot air, the cactus, the travel, the raw food, the discomfort, the desert and the humidity. Our home, our possessions, our gold, our wealth, our friends, our home ward, our comforts: we were tired of these luxuries (1 Nephi 2:1-6).

Of course, I know Lehi was far more grateful than that as he expressed sincere gratitude for a loving God who had protected them and was leading them to a “promised land.”