Season of Gratitude

What do you have to be grateful for?  It may appear to be a routine question, but taking the time to make note of and give thanks for blessings large and little is at the heart of this season of gratitude.  Being thankful is life-changing!

Why? For one thing, it expands thought by taking it off of oneself.  When that happens, thought shifts and healing occurs. A new perspective brings progress.

Being grateful also helps us to see people and things in ways that are closer to their true spiritual character.  The more we strive to be thankful for even the smallest of deeds or simplest of stuff, the more we find of value in those near and far.

It’s especially important – and completely natural – to give gratitude to God as the source of those blessings, and of all that is good. He pours forth affection and purpose, provision and health, happiness and holiness to one and all, regardless of faith or no faith.  And none of it returns to Him without accomplishing all that He intends.  The author of Colossians writes, “…cultivate thankfulness…And sing, sing your hearts out to God! ” (3:15.16)

It seems, when we neglect that heart-filled singing step, thought reverts inward. Instead of rejoicing in expansive views, all seems finite and limited. Author, educator, and mentor Mary Baker Eddy put it this way: “While the heart is far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives.” (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, bottom of page 3)

But the solution doesn’t need to take a long time.  A simple thank you to divine Truth and Love, another name for God, gets the ball rolling to higher and clearer vistas that reveal the normalcy of goodness, the naturalness of health, and the reliability of harmony. With that new outlook, life is a little lighter, and freedom a little closer.

Try it.  Be grateful.  Start with one thing, and watch your list grow to dozens or even hundreds. You’ll feel better and the world will look sweeter.

Thank God.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the add me button.

Rejoice!

Today and everyday, let your heart be filled with gratitude for the power and presence of God “who daily loadeth us with benefits.”  (Ps 68:19)  For “this is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  (Ps 118:24)  Indeed!

Enjoy this poem by Ethel Wasgatt Dennis

A grateful heart a garden is,
Where there is always room
For every lovely, Godlike grace
To come to perfect bloom.

A grateful heart a fortress is,
A staunch and rugged tower,
Where God’s omnipotence, revealed,
Girds man with mighty power.

A grateful heart a temple is,
A shrine so pure and white,
Where angels of His presence keep
Calm watch by day or night.

Grant then, dear Father-Mother, God,
Whatever else befall,
This largess of a grateful heart
That loves and blesses all.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear followers and friends.  May your day be filled with rejoicing.  Here are some other wonderful articles too:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141124173621-14383197-nurture-a-gratitude-attitude-say-entrepreneur

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ingrid-peschke/gratitudechallenge-from-t_b_6185256.html

http://gettingbalance.com/does-gratitude-impact-our-health-and-happiness/

http://www.healthycal.org/archives/17068

http://toledofavs.com/2014/11/25/lincolns-thanksgiving-day-proclamation-gratitude-in-hardship/

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Plenty!

On this day of Thanksgiving, let’s remember that there is plenty: plenty of good, plenty of love, plenty of grace, plenty of salvation.  The abundance of these “plentys” are guarantees that there will also be plenty of everything else we need.  Acknowledging – and being grateful for – the fullness of God’s creation helps us to see and experience that goodness and fullness, here and now – and forever.  It’s as close as our willingness to put God first and our thanks that He is indeed First.  That simple act reveals the already presence of all that we need.

This is the day which the Lord hath made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.  Mary Baker Eddy

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Gratitude overcomes shame

Picture this: Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden after the fateful apple-eating incident.  The Lord God is there, looking for them.  Adam comes forward in response to the question “Adam, where art thou?” and says humbly, “O Lord God, thank you for all that you have done for Eve and me.  Thank you for providing us with such abundance and beauty.  Thank you for loving us so much that you have made this heavenly garden for our home.”  What?

Okay, we all know that’s not how the story really goes.  (see Genesis 2:4 to 3:24)

Instead, we can relate to the scenario of having done something really dumb, or even downright hurtful, and then suffering the consequences which often feel as though we’ve been booted out of safety and happiness – maybe even permanently.   That story is a pretty good depiction of the vagaries of human existence.  It captures well the ultimate downward trend of mortal life.  But it is an allegory.  It is a teaching tool.  It is designed to show us that starting from dust and clay condemns us to return to dust and clay.

What if, instead, we see ourselves through the scientific version of creation made plain in the first chapter of Genesis?  Even after we’ve made a horrible or willful mistake, it’s not too late to gain a better sense of our own and others’ Godlike nature as presented there.  This is where God makes His children in His image and likeness, not from clay or rib.

Gratitude is a wonderful pathway to that redemptive understanding.  Being thankful for good already present, and even in advance of it (as Jesus exemplified) is a holy about-face that helps us to see a new view of ourselves.  That’s because in order to truly be grateful for what we have, we must know what we have.  This requires us to look closely, and then to look again, and then to look even more deeply for and at all the blessings and potential blessings.  Doing so changes us.  Wretchedness gives place to grace, shame to meekness, and fear to affection.

The Bible records that King David understood the healing power of gratitude.  He writes: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”  (see Psalm 103:2-5)

We can’t rewrite the biblical story of Adam and Eve, but we can rewrite our own “kicked out of Eden” stories.  Let your heart be filled with gratitude – real and persistent – and watch your own life be reformed as well.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.