Gratitude ...

I was shocked when I checked the "Concordance" of the Science of Mind this morning to find that there was only one reference to gratitude in the entire book. It IS the famous "attitude of gratitude" quote we often hear. Yes Ernest Holmes really DID say that!

Even though Gratitude or, rather, Thanksgiving, is one of the steps of "Scientific Prayer", it doesn't seem to figure very prominently in SOM. Could it be that Holmes looked at gratitude and thanksgiving as two different and very separate ideas. Thanks, thankful and thanksgiving only get ten references in the book. What's going on here? Wasn't Ernie a "grateful kinda guy"? I know that, as a child I was constantly being told to be grateful and reminded how guilty I should feel when I wasn't grateful. What has remained with me since those days was more of a sense of obligation; really a feeling of not being grateful than a sense of a spontaneous welling up within me of just how blessed, loved, taken care of I am.

I've just returned form a very short visit to California; to my former home and Center in Nevada City. I was there to celebrate a friend's 89th birthday. Happy Birthday, Len! I came away from that experience with a deep feeling of gratitude for all of the good friends, connections and just "wonderful" stuff that happened there. I came home as well with a realization of how important my time there had been in my formation as a minister and spiritual teacher. The experiences I had there either matured me or set me up for further growth later when I was ready for it. Like a lot of what we learn about ourselves, there are what we call "good" and "bad", positive and negative. It's only in hindsight that, I can see that nothing that happened there or, in fact, happens anywhere is anything but salutary or, to put it another way. Everything serves my good.

What if I approached everything and everyday with the knowledge that whatever I encountered that day would "serve my good"? What if it's never the circumstances of my life but rather what I think of those circumstances that creates happiness or its opposite? And finally. What if approaching my life with gratitude FIRST sets me up for a better experience?

"An attitude of gratitude is most salutary and bespeaks the realization that we are now in heaven" SOM p. 497