GOOD ALREADY RECEIVED

A traditional Thanksgiving grace ends with, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.” One of my favorite wisdom books, Science and Health with key to the Scriptures, has a lot to say about giving thanks.

“Are we really grateful for the good already received?” it asks. “Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.”

This quote begins with a very straightforward idea. When you are grateful for something you already have, then you make better use of it. The surprising thing about this idea is that simply being more thankfully aware of what you have and availing yourself of it, makes it even more available.

This concept of gratitude doesn’t necessarily work on a material quid pro quo level. Being grateful for the bread you have and using it to feed your hunger does not make that bread more available. But it does cause you to become aware that there was actually a morsel that you had discounted, when tempted to think the cupboard is empty.

On the other hand, being grateful for ideas, abilities, qualities, opportunities, experiences that weren’t as readily apparent, and taking advantage of them, using them, looking for them, valuing them, sharing them, applying them, doesn’t use them up, but makes them even more apparent and available.

The new way that I have been applying this advice is to think about something that I would be grateful for if I had it but believe that I don’t have it. Or do I? Can I be grateful for it as if I have it, as if I have already received it and act as if it is already mine? Will this too bring it more into my experience?

I am finding that it does. Sometimes I see a bare mental cupboard that doesn’t seem to have any patience in it or faith or poise or courage or success. By being grateful for those qualities or accomplishments–and not just theoretically, but grateful as if I already have them–does fit me to receive more.

And how about healing? Healing in my mind is more than just recovery from illness. It is a greater grasp on true health—vigor, freedom, ability, comfort, wholeness, harmony, well-being. When I am sick, can I be grateful for the healing I already have? Does that fit me to receive it? I am finding that it does.

The human mind is accustomed to experiencing gratitude after something good happens. To have the experience of gratitude before the good appears can help the human mind give its consent to that good and open the door to the very healing we seek.

So it is with all good. Jesus thanked God for the food he needed before it expanded to feed 5000 plus hungry followers. He also thanked God before he called Lazarus back from the grave. He thanked God for eternal life before his crucifixion and surely that helped prepare the way for his resurrection.

This is a week when many are expressing gratitude for all the good they have received. That is wonderful in itself. Perhaps you might also try being grateful for something you dearly long for, as if it was already so.

As Science and Health says, “Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.” So, try being grateful for, and acting as if you already have, the good you seek. Overflow with thanks for it. See what happens.

Science and Health Page 3:22 by Mary Baker Eddy