Pre-emptive Gratitude

THE SUNSHINE OF GOD’S LOVE

Behind every problem or difficulty lies the Truth of Being. This means that in spite of the appearance, you must believe that divine Mind is already healing the situation. Jesus said that when you pray, believe that you have received. Often we are so close to a problem that, spiritually speaking, we accept the cloudy day as a permanent state of climate, forgetting that the sunshine of divine Love and Power has never ceased to shine, although obscured for the moment.

In prayer we remind ourselves again that, no matter how bleak or overcast the picture may be, we believe that in divine Mind there is nothing but good and therefore only good can express itself in these circumstances. The important thing is to raise your consciousness above the level where the difficulty seems to be, and put God there instead.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).

Around the Year with

Emmet Fox, 296

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Practically speaking, the universe appears to be indifferent to my plight no matter how serious, or petty, the difficulty might be. One Native American told me that his prayers are not petitions or pleas for help but rather they are prayers of gratitude. His example was: “Father Creator, thank you for the rain; thank you for a good corn crop; thank you for the harvest.” He then said that he just walks away from it because he has already put his difficulties in the hands of the Great Spirit and, whatever the difficulty, from that point on it is none of our business.

I call it pre-emptive gratitude and pre-emptive gratitude is of little affect if I hold onto expectations. Pre-emptive gratitude has the additional quality of mind that grants me the ability to let go of any obsession which takes itself so damned seriously.

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