What is your perfect prayer? The Lord’s Prayer? The Apostles’ Creed? The 23rd Psalm?
The best prayer you can pray is expressing gratitude for the things you now have.
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”
~Meister Eckhart
Gratitude is a very powerful tool to help you look for the good in any given situation, help you to appreciate all the beauty around you, and cause you to live in the present moment!
Personally, I spent too many years wishing for something better, greater, or richer in my life. I saw too much despair in my situation. My circumstances were tough and I was miserable! I was in a bad marriage, living in a seemingly ‘foreign’ country, and hated my life. During that time, I learned to focus on anything positive I could and not to dwell on my lack.
Slowly, I got out of that situation and remembered the lesson of learning to be grateful. Instead of dwelling the seemingly bad going on, I started focusing on my blessings. Even in the darkest depths of my life, I found something to grateful for. Maybe my kids were unusually good that day, or maybe the flowers started blooming, or maybe a neighbor helped fill a particular need I had. There was always something to be grateful for and about.
New Thought teaching focuses on positive affirmative prayer. Those type of prayer starts with thanking God/Spirit/Universe for something good in your life every day. Personally, I dedicated time for this type of prayer at least twice every day. My last thoughts before I fall asleep at night are ones of thanksgiving and gratitude. My positive prayer help me sleep so much more fully and peacefully.
Unity Church is offering a wonderful little booklet that talks about this subject: Gratitude and Grace. Here is a short excerpt from the introductory page:
Gratitude may be the single most powerful spiritual tool we have, no matter the circumstances.
Grace is always with us.
In Gratitude and Grace, your favorite Unity booklet writers share some of their deepest experiences and reflect on the roles of gratitude and grace in times of light and darkness.
As Oprah Winfrey says in her book, The Wisdom of Sundays: “I know it’s not easy to be grateful all the time, but I’ve learned that it’s when you feel the least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: perspective.”
Order a free hard or digital copy of this beautiful Unity booklet: Gratitude and Grace