I can hear the Universe calling. “I’m here. I’ll give you everything you are. Giving me your gratitude lets me know what it is you do want. It lets me know who you are. Give me your gratitude!”

Of course, there is no Universe outside ourselves calling us. It is our very being, that place within that calls to be recognized. It is motivated by the energy of Gratitude because Gratitude is an expression of deep appreciation and fulfillment.

In the Science of Mind and Spirit, we practice balancing the four corners of our life: Health, Relationships, Creativity, Prosperity. I am convinced if any of us were to ask ourselves which of these areas we are lacking in, we would be able to relate it to our level of gratitude in that area.

We cannot create something new from the energy of the old. It is impossible. Gratitude is the energy of the new. It let’s the Universe know that we feel that we have everything that we require. It lets the Universe know that we understand that even our hardships have brought us to a higher level of loving and knowing ourselves. Gratitude , as Dr. Joe Dispenza put it, “is the ultimate state of receivership.” Ernest Holmes wrote, “An attitude of gratitude is most salutary and bespeaks the realization that we are now in heaven.” Deepak Chopra wrote, “Gratitude is a prayer.”

All of this makes sense. How can we experience anything other than the emotion or feeling we are truly experiencing. A grateful heart is a fulfilled heart.

Yesterday, my husband and I were walking across the parking lot at Home Depot, carrying our newly purchased Christmas lights for the outside of our house. I looked at him and an overwhelming energy of gratitude came over me. “We’ll never experience this moment again,” I said. It’s true. there are so many small moments that we have to be grateful for. What I experienced in that moment, was an attitude of gratitude for nothing at all besides the opportunity to be in that moment.

True gratitude cannot be forced. Gratitude is not about being grateful for things. It is a state of mind that is merely in a continuous state of blessing. Any of us are capable of being in this state, but it does take practice. Like forgiveness, it is not something we do once and are done with it. Gratitude is a practice that must be cultivated.

Sarah Ban Brethnach wrote, “Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…”

Gratitude and ingratitude are two states of consciousness. Gratitude is a choice. We consciously have to practice it.

Why is this all important? I believe that gratitude generates an energy of joy within our very cellular that heals everything. It is impossible to be grateful and in a state of anger or disdain or any other emotion that deters us from our good at the same time. It’s like being pregnant. You either are or you are not.”American Beauty” when the major character had just died and was floating outside his body. He said, “I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.” Now, I do not believe our lives our stupid and I know what Lester was talking about in this moment. He was talking about the blessing of living, of experience in the physical body, of all his mistakes, his triumphs, his opportunity to pass this way and to have used the experience in the best way he knew how.

There is so much to be grateful for.  I can hear the Universe calling. “I’m here. I’ll give you everything you are. Giving me your gratitude lets me know what it is you do want. It lets me know who you are. Give me your gratitude!”

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita