Midweek Faith Lift
July 4, 2018
An Attitude of Gratitude
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Good Morning! Thank you God for everything! I have no complaint whatsoever.
Thank you God for everything, I have no complaint whatsoever! Say it with me:
Thank you God for everything, I have no complaint whatsoever! Except when I do, and I complain and I whine and I need a little cheese with that wine and I am not grateful. Then, no matter what is there, if I am in the whiney cheese mood, or too tired and stressed, I see nothing but challenges, problems and NOTHING to be grateful for, nothing for which I want to say thanks! It might be a “Gee, thanks!” Or thanks for what? Or thanks, you shouldn’t have, “YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T HAVE!” Gratitude, like all human emotions has a lot of different shades, doesn’t it? And not all of them are pretty!
My favorite “non-gratitude gratitude” is when I was prompted to express thanks for a gift from someone I really didn’t like or for something I really didn’t want OR like. That was a double whammy! I am sure that has never happened to any of you! We teach our children what I call “gratitude rituals” such as please and thank you. When my kids were little, we told them to use their “magic words” which seemed to bring them all good things. However, while the social graces are a prerequisite for a certain level of well-being among people, there is the inevitable disillusionment when they get older, life gets tougher and the magic words are no longer magic. At that point, we either shift to a higher perspective, or we revert to fear and cynicism and a “lack consciousness.”
When that happens, we can lose track of the higher spiritual energy of gratitude as a causative energy. That is Butterworth's essential teaching about gratitude: IT IS A CAUSATIVE ENERGY!!! And the corollary of that is: YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE SOMETHING TO FEEL GRATEFUL FOR! And even more surprising, Butterworth says, on page 87 of Spiritual Economics:
The fact is, it doesn’t make any difference to God whether you give thanks or not. But it makes a lot of difference to you. God is too universal, too almighty to be dependent on your thanksgiving….You see gratitude is not for God. You are not obligated to thank God ….However, giving thanks is an important state of your consciousness that keeps you in an awareness of oneness with divine flow.”
The essential teaching about Gratitude is that a “grateful heart is causative and attracts greatness.” What is it about a grateful heart that is so powerful? A grateful heart does not need something to be grateful for. When we cultivate a grateful heart, we rest in a mindset of gratitude then we are able to detach from whatever circumstances are around us and rise in consciousness. Jesus did that routinely, when he went to the mountaintop to pray. An attitude of gratitude brings consciousness altitude! It lifts our vision, our consciousness to a higher level. Butterworth references Plato who 2500 years ago said, “A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.” P. 89.
Last week our focus was on Faith as a process, not an endpoint. Now we add to that Faith process Gratitude as a practice, unattached to an outcome; a practice that is designed to cultivate a grateful heart. Paul in his final words of blessing to the Thessalonians says it this way:
1 Thessalonians 5:12-18
12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
This passage is especially relevant for us today, to remind us of the need to give thanks in all circumstances, to encourage and support each other, to listen to that higher consciousness that is within each of us and to not devolve to a lower level of consciousness. That was the constant message of Rev. Dr. King, to return hate with love, and that is what he and Civil Rights marchers did again and again. This is a hard truth, but the spiritual Truth of Gratitude is that when it seems there is nothing to feel grateful for, that is when it is most essential to cultivate a grateful heart and an attitude of gratitude. Hmmm….how is that?
Well, Butterworth quotes Theodore Roosevelt, “Do all you can with what you have right where you are.” Don’t begin with a subtle or even overt resistance to what is now here, to what you have, no matter how inadequate or undesirable. Remember that in Truth, there is an abundance of everything everywhere, so give thanks. It is gratitude that causes increase despite all appearances to the contrary. There is an abundance of Love, of supply, of health, of harmony. There is an all Sufficiency in Spirit, even when we can’t see it. We give thanks and turn up the Rheostat of Gratitude in all things because there is evidence of the activity of Spirit in all circumstances. Give thanks not for these circumstances, but from the awareness that there is always an all-sufficiency even within the insufficiency. The operational word here is from when it concerns gratitude.
So that changes our opening mantra a bit, doesn’t it? Rather than Thank You, God for everything, our mantra becomes “In all things I give thanks for the Power and Presence of Spirit that is always there with all Sufficiency to meet my every need.” If our need, as a nation, is for more compassion, more harmony, more understanding, awareness and support for the common good, we give thanks for the All Sufficiency of Spirt that supplies our every need. And we move in the faith process that our every need will be met from that powerful energy of gratitude that draws our good to us.
When we are tempted to lament the lack and see only the insufficiency, we lift our eyes, we go to a higher consciousness that can see beyond current conditions. Remember that the word amen is embedded within Lament. Get rid of the L & T, loss and tribulation and you get an AMEN that is the affirmation of a grateful heart.
Jesus demonstrated the power of gratitude over and over again and the All Sufficiency of Spirit that is always available to us. Butterworth references the story of the loaves and fishes which is about the hungry crowds gathered to hear Jesus speak and a little boy who shows up with his lunch of 5 loaves and two fish. Now what? What to do? Well the first thing Jesus does is take what he is given, the loaves and fish, and lift his eyes and “look up to heaven.” Not because that is where God is, but to lift his consciousness to that heavenly awareness of “there is enough.” And he didn’t ask or beg for increase of the available supply. No Whining Prayers allowed!
Jesus accepted what was there and then he blessed it and gave it to the people. Here is how it went down in Matthew 14: 15-21
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
This is what we need to remember most when we face apparent lack. Whatever is there, we bless it. The word, “bless” means to “confer prosperity upon.” The teaching is you don’t have to go looking for what you need, you find it right where you are. You open your grateful heart and take whatever you have and “confer prosperity on it” by blessing it. And in the faith process and the gratitude practice your needs are met fully from the All Sufficient energy of Spirit. You don’t have to know the how, the why, or the when. You look right here, you give thanks, you bless what is here from that place of a grateful heart and you are satisfied.
This is the universal law of the process of limitless increase out of a divine flow and under the influence of God-consciousness. It has proven true for me over and over again. Whether in things large or small, my most powerful prayer is “God is my help in every need; thank you God for answered prayer.” That simple prayer has cultivated a grateful heart and maintained a God-consciousness in me in the face of countless challenges.
One funny story to illustrate how this can unfold: it was winter, before Christmas when the girls were school aged. We were backing out of the driveway to go to the Des Moines Unity church because they were in the Christmas program. We got really stuck in a snow bank at the bottom of the driveway. Todd was gone so no help there. So, I began to say out loud, “God is our help in every need, God is our help in every need….Thank you God for answered prayer.” And along comes the Drake University Wrestling Team, 5 burly guys walking down Polk Blvd.!! AND they were only too happy to demonstrate their strength and athletic prowess by actually lifting my Dodge Colt Vista Wagon out of the snow! And we were on our way and arrived in plenty of time for the Christmas program. The girls were impressed!
The message: Keep your view from the top, stay centered in God, affirm God as Source and give thanks in advance for all your good.
Blessings on the Path!
Rev. Deb