Grateful

*GRATEFUL/*GRATEFULNESS/*GRATITUDE - see APPRECIATION, LOVE, WORSHIP, INGRATITUDE, THANKFUL, PRAISE

“If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe.” (Surat Ibrahim 14:7)

Being grateful is also a sign of one’s closeness to and love of God. People who give thanks have the insight and capability to perceive the beauties and blessings that God creates. It should be also noted that true believers remain grateful to God even under harshest conditions. Someone looking from outside may see the diminishing of some blessings believers enjoy. However, believers, who are able to perceive the good aspect of every event and situation, see goodness in this too. For example, God states that He will test people with fear, hunger and loss of wealth or life. In such a situation, believers rejoice and feel grateful, hoping that God will reward them with the gifts of paradise in return for the steadfastness they displayed in this test. They know that God does not impose on anyone more than he can bear.(God Increases His Blessings on Those Who Are Grateful)

Better to be grateful to everybody who has ever hurt us because it was they who showed us where and under what conditions the truth does not persist. So, they have done us a favor. They were the ones who pushed us to keep growing. We accept the pain and allow it to happen (which is not to say that we go looking for it) and be grateful for this understanding, even as it puts our experience into perspective. (Stillness, p229)

Beatitude comes from gratitude. (Randy, 6/97)

If you are really grateful, how can you not believe in God? God has created everything we enjoy. (Buddha, Christ, p25)

Live like Christ to make a return to God for the gifts he has given us. The return gift we give to God must be no less than God's gift to us - Christ. We return Christ to God by allowing Christ to live in us, by living the Christ life ever more fully. (Life, p215)

You will not have that for which you ask or want. The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude. When you thank God in advance for that which you choose to experience, you acknowledge that it is there. Thankfulness is the most powerful statement to God. (Note: Sponsoring Thought is the thought behind the thought. If you beg and supplicate, there seems a much smaller chance that you will experience what you think you are choosing, because the Sponsoring Thought is that which you do not have.) Since God always give us whatever we need, requests are not necessary. Therefore prayer is for thanksgiving, a statement of gratitude for what is so. (Conversations, p10-13)

In the moment of your total knowing, you too will feel as I do always: totally joyful, loving, accepting, blessing, and grateful. (Conversations, p65)

Being grateful means knowing that ourselves are evil, however, it also means knowing the glory of God that he loves us. (Randy)

My boy you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. (Older son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Matt )

There are few people who are grateful today, because they are continuously searching for happiness. It begins with gratitude...being grateful, and searching for your inner gifts. My People will never be happy if they continue to search for gifts of momentary pleasure. (IAM, p32)

Through prayer and stillness, I began to develop the ability to be naturally in touch with my spirit - expanding my awareness of the many concepts of love. This openness encompassed not only the love I have for other people, but the love of everything I see and the appreciation for all the beauty around me. Gratitude keeps me in tune with my love and appreciation of the abundance of God in my life. I thank God for even the opportunity to grow from experiences that may not seem so positive. I ask him to allow me to expand beyond my narrow-mindedness and self-centeredness, so that I can see the good that comes from everything. Growth is enhanced by our willingness to take what appears to be negative events and turn them into something very positive. Our relationships with other people can present powerful windows of opportunity to help us grow in spiritual understanding, but we must be open to seeing those [as] opportunities. (Awakening, p218-9)

I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. (???)

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. (Jim Nolan) Note: that this is also true spiritually. (Randy, 6/97)

I should be thankful and have gratitude that my aloneness allows me to contemplate the lofty ideas of spiritually. (Randy, 6/97)

"Another Day in Paradise" (song by )

It is gratefulness which makes the soul great. (Quest for God, Abraham Josua Heschel, p5-6)

God does well in granting the grace of spiritual comfort, but we fall short in not referring everything back to God by thanking him. As a result, the gifts of grace cannot flow freely in us becuase we are often ungrateful to the giver, and we do not refer it all back to the source from which it came. Grace will always be given to the truly grateful, and what is usually given to the humble will be taken away from the proud. Give to God what is God's, and ascribe to yourself that which is yours; that is, thank God for his grace and claim for yourself alone the guilt for your sins and the punishment they deserve. Those who atrribute to God all the good that they have received do not seek praise from others and wish that God be praised in himself and in all his saints. So be grateful for every little gift and you will be worthy to receive greater ones. Consider the least gift as great and the most common as something special. (Imitation, Book2, Ch10)

A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER'S PRAYER

Author Unknown,

(Attributed to a battle weary C.S.A soldier near the end of the war)

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy;

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among all men most richly blessed.