By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

The abundance of a grateful heart gives honor to God even if it does not turn to Him in words. An unbeliever who is filled with thanks for his very being has ceased to an unbeliever.
Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with with gladness; come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalm 100 - Holy Bible

One of the most frequently quoted qualities in an awakening and / or a more conscious life is the expression of a heart fi lled with gratitude. This inner quality enables us to be in an open, internal, more sacred space allowing a connection to life's flow.

The deep purpose of gratitude is not to impress God, (God does not seek or need our thanks) but rather to allow ourselves to be open to the ongoingness of the energy connection often called “flow” of the universe.

If we might think or (image) life's unrestricted flow something like the ongoing fl owage of a mighty (unlimited) river of energy, we might conceiveably experience gratitude similar to a boost of energy, whenever we give permission to be available to the flow.  The Source of Life which we may metaphorically
relate to a river, is always in movement.

At the human level, in daily living circumstances, we tend not to be in the flow.  We get stopped by falling debris, rocks, rapids, "waterfalls" and step outside the rising stream of energy that is always in motion.  We call this getting stuck, or hurt, disappointment, disillusionment or even despair.  But there is a way out
and I'd like to offer some refl ections as follows.

1.  At the very beginning, middle and end of every single day, allow our voice to be "lifted up" to Source in prayers, chants, rituals, dance, mudras, mantras or whatever simple or complex form gratefulness may seek expression. It gives us, at our human (often) ego based relationship to life a larger context in which to look at the uniqueness of our life, and all the dimensions in it.  And it opens the door to greater flow!

2.  Bless with unbridled enthusiasm the human form, the male, the female, the beautiful, the less beautiful, the new, theold and all manner of the incredible variety of expressions of individuality in between.  Often we measure our bodies against societal, community, ethnic and other cultural standards.  When we are in measuring modes of thought, we most often are hard, harsh or severe upon ourselves.  We come up missing perfection.  The whole idea of a perfect man, a perfect woman is an incredible ego trap and is one of the huge learnings we are required to encounter in our early youth.  Personally I can remember being a 16 year old male in high school gym classes (physical ed).  The incredible variety of body types, sizes, heights and widths defied language.  How could some 325 - 350 males be so different?  I finally came to see that each was special, unique and worthy and that our physical form was the springboard of an amazing array of body related (sports) skills as well as the whole arena of emotional, mental and life skills that would emerge!

3.  Expressing some tender feeling of gratitude for the part of life's journey that offers shadows, dark and painful places in its unfolding and unwinding.  We each encounter losses, sometimes failures, family traumas such as death or separation of parents through divorce, job relocation and/or illnesses that somehow never get resolved.

Gratefulness here may seem out of place.  But what is offered here is that when we can stop punishing ourselves from mistakes we've made, we tend to do the same for other people, especially those we may feel have wronged or hurt us.  That's a form of acknowledging that whether we like it or not "stuff happens".  Most of us may prefer that "stuff" does not happen.  But even with all of the social (even religious) restraints, bans including punishment by jail or maybe even death, untoward material in the broad spectra of life still occurs.

And so when we can act out of a place where we are not in pain in ourselves, we can be in a place for healing, a light in a darkened world, holding aloft a torch, a torch that casts light in many directions and allows the shadows to flee and a measure of gratitude to see hope and not hype.  We can feel strengthened as we take steady steps that lead us forward.

4.  Notice the small stuff in life with a happy heart.  Too often we say things, such as "when I get my new job, I'll be grateful," or " when I feel better (health wise). I'll express gratitude."  Start now to express the sense of connection we each may have just where we are.  Appreciate bird songs and butterfly wings; bees with drawing nectar and chameleons scampering across the grass. Feel the warmth of the sun on your body and allow your body to absorb the rays of the sun without getting paranoid about sunblock, sunscreen and UV rays.  Observe bicycleists and children at play.  Watch runners, joggers, swimmers and sports folk playing soccer, baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, etc.  Pay attention to old buildings as well as new, elegant trees and sad looking scrub brush ... all has a place in the Divine cacaphony of a day, a week, an evening or morning.  And as we allow a sense of gratitude, we actually begin to feel that we are an important part of the universe in which we live. Gratitude enables us to feel included and connected.

When we look for what's missing, guess what!  We will discover what's missing because that's where our focus is!  When we focus upon what's present, it expands.  So with gratitude focus on the little accomplishment, the single step achieved, and watch it grow.

5.  The deeper we grow in a spiritual sense, the more we are aware that we are a part of an incredible mystery.  Gratitude enables us to touch something of the greatness of the Great Mystery by our willingness to be open to life beyond the intellect and the will.

Gratitude emerges from a thankful heart.  While there are countless opportunities in our everyday life to express thoughts, words and deeds of loving gratitude, I believe it has to emerge from within is in a way/manner that is far beyond what is expected or may be perfunctory or even required.

As a little child is taught by his parents to say "thank you" to an adult, a parent or maybe aunt/uncle or grandparent we learn both societal and familial rules of thanksgiving.  When the rules are repeated over and over and sometimes become required behaviors before a next step can unfold, we sometimes associate the rules as a kind of punishment.  Because we really do not know, (deeply) why "thank you" is required for a favor, a gift or a special acknowledgement, we miss the deeper reason why we are taught to express gratitude.

When we genuinely discover a series of good feelings in us as some kind of positive reinforcement loop, for favors, good grades, we begin to learn that there is another order of energies that are involved.

This higher or more intense inner order of energies is emerging from the Source of life upon our very soul's expression as we discover connection and alignment.  Gratitude allows us to see alignment of the connectedness of things.  When we are not connected we feel "off."

The work, in both simple and complex ways, is that we must really allow our heart to speak and thus learn how to value the world in which we truly take our daily bread.  Living from gratitude is initially something we teach ourselves to be more aware of.  We learn how to express a feeling of appreciation for the tiny experiences of life to the larger moments or events.

A person in front of us at a grocery check out line notices we have only 3/4 items and says, "please go ahead of me."  It's a gratitude moment ... for them, and for us!  The doctor walks into his/her office and says to us, "Your tests are clear. You're good to go." and we thank the doctor for the good work his/her efforts represented.  But in a larger sense, we thank the universe for a confi rmation of being in the place of balance, in such a way that our body and any testing issues reveal internal biochemical wholeness.

The real work for us is to see that all people have their place in the larger scheme of things and by affirming them, we bless energetically who they are and their relationship to us.  The conscious art of gratitude stirs a recognition of the Divine - in them.  How, one might ask?  When we are in a positive inner space within us our positivity flows outward from within us to the other.   A subtle energy bridge is created that is filled with our light charged energies.  And since we know that light attracts more light, we have helped to open a positive flow between ourselves and another.

When this happens, one can observe the results that show up.  Certainly we individually feel better and more hopeful and
others will catch the spirit that emanates from us.  What we think about, expands!