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

The Practice vs the Pursuit of Happiness

I had no idea when I decided to follow John Kehoe's lead and think about happiness as something to be practiced as opposed to something to be pursued that it would generate so much enthusiasm. Thank you, John. We sold out all of your books in two Sundays. I expect there will be a demand for more by next week.

I also wasn't ready for the excitement that is palpable in the room on Sundays before and especially after the Sunday celebration. A lot of it has to do with the music. Thanks are due to our wonderful music director, Diane Lines. Thanks for introducing Dawn Pemberton to us and us to her. Dawn come back soon. Jonathan Bruce. You wowed us with your rendition of the Happiness Song from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

The theme yesterday emerged unplanned from all of the material available; resources, music and even those in attendance. Children know how to be happy. Ernest Holmes inspired the Lesson. I picked up on Ernie picking up on Jesus. "Unless you become like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom." Translation, "Until you remember what little children know you won't enter the kingdom of happiness, BUT as soon as you do, you'll be there. (SOM p. 456). The Law of Good the trust in which resides all happiness (please excuse the weird construction. I don't know any other way to get it out) is not something outside of us we have to get. It is not something inside of us that we have to find. It IS us right now; an option we choose to exercise moment by moment.

Felt to me like by the end of the Celebration on Sunday, we all got there. Felt like we made that choice.