A month of gratitude

November is here. At Unity, we are focusing on gratitude the entire month.

The idea is, with all celebration in life, we need to be grateful. Gratitude is more than giving thanks for what we already have on a material level. Gratitude comes with an attitude, a causative force. It is a habit in mind that actually forecast and unfolds good into the world. Gratitude is that energy that gives rise to the good that is already there. It is ready to be expressed through us. When we give thanks from an attitude of expected good, we are setting life energy into motion to produce that good. It is the impulse of “before they call I will answer.”

This idea is the message that Jesus taught when he said, “You say there are six months until the harvest, but I say unto you, lift up your eyes, for the fields are already white for harvest.” With this message I believe that Jesus is telling us that we are responsible to see beyond any appearance of lack, illness or disharmony to the thankfulness of a life lived in faith.

The question is not, “What do I have to be thankful for?” The question is, “What do I have to give thanks from?” We give from a heart of love, from an attitude of praise and from the truth that we each have a gift to bring to this world.

Whenever Jesus was faced with a challenge, he lifted his eyes and gave thanks in advance. We can do the same. When we do this we raise our energy to a level of praise. The great theologian and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin said this very succinctly when he wrote, “Let us build the earth by building one another.”

Praise is not flattery. Praise is when we raise our level of energy to a point where we relate to other people, organizations and communities, and draw from them the highest level of their potential. We are calling this potential out into manifestation.

When we give thanks from an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, we are recognizing God as the source of our good. We are looking for the good instead of condemning that which we do not want. You see, the law is in place. It is the law of cause and effect. Whatever we praise or condemn, we give our attention, and this is what we will experience in our lives.

Giving thanks with an attitude of gratitude and looking for things to praise in our lives is remembering the source of love, life, peace and joy, and it will multiply in our personal lives and in the world. As we are each lifted up in awareness of gratitude, we lift all with us.

Recently, we have experienced chaos in the world and in our lives. Therefore, it is more important than ever to move away from an attitude of “ain’t it awful” and being victims of the circumstances of the outer experience to an attitude of responsibility. We need to see the fields white for harvest. We begin by asking the question of the circumstance, “What can I give thanks from? How do I serve?”

God bless each of you reading this article and may your Thanksgiving be one of thankfulness for those blessings in your lives and giving thanks from an attitude of praise for the world to live up to. A world which is ready to have us give thanks from.