While preparing this newsletter, I received the following message from Dr. Kenn Gordon, Centers for Spiritual Living Spiritual Leader. Rather than writing a message of my own for this issue, I found Dr. Ken’s message to perfectly portray the Thanksgiving season:
“Gratitude is a jo
yous response to the good in our lives. Spiritually, we know it is a powerfully proactive and creative element which affirms and attracts the good we claim, even before it arrives. This month as the United States celebrates Thanksgiving, many of our spiritual communities focus on gratitude, yet things to be grateful for can be challenging to find.
“Nothing could be more important than a consciousness of gratitude in these times! In our spiritual approach to life, we do not pretend that negative conditions do not exist. We see through them to a greater Truth. The list of negative conditions on our dear planet is long today, including pollution and deadly climate warming, terrorism, wars, hunger, poverty, and high levels of persecution and discrimination around race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. All of these negative conditions are human-caused and human-driven. Therefore, it is within our power to change them. Let us come together to see a better way forward through the powerful practice of gratitude for the healing of these conditions right now.
“In this season of gratitude, I urge all who hear this message to be proactive in your thinking, in your spiritual practice, and in your gratitude. Envision the future you desire and then act from that vision. Refuse to become attached to negative news. Express kindness to yourself and others. Hold yourself and others accountable to express your best selves. See the possibility in every man, woman, and child and be grateful for it, even before it exists in form. Bring the Light from within you to shine on all who are on your path. Join me in creating a world that works for everyone by being grateful for the good we have, and the good that we envision, not just as the possibility, but as reality!”
“. . . for all tomorrow’s good
May rest today upon your gratitude,
For he [she] who gives thanks before the wine
Is pressed from grapes still clinging to the vine
Has shown a faith above, beyond the present hour
And his [her] thanksgiving holds the future flower.”
~ Ernest and Fenwicke Holmes, The Voice Celestial