Love is the Way I Walk in Gratitude (Workbook Lesson 195)
Today is the third Thursday in November. Here in the United States, it is Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season. Sunday marks the start of Advent in the Church calendar. In my household, on December 1st, we begin counting down the days until Christmas. Each morning after breakfast, we open the corresponding door in our Advent calendar to find a little piece of chocolate. I have always had a positive association with Christmas and I have come to appreciate Advent as a season through knowing my husband. Neither of us grew up celebrating Thanksgiving, but despite that, we value this holiday for its message of gratitude. The practice of gratitude is very powerful, so much so that spending a few minutes in gratitude daily has been shown in research studies to improve mood. In the spirit of the season, this post is about the meaning of gratitude taught in A Course in Miracles.
At Thanksgiving, it is traditional to connect in thanks for what we have: family, friends, health, a warm home, a delicious and nourishing meal. In A Course in Miracles, the practice of gratitude is a prayer of thanks for what we are. As Workbook Lesson 195 explains:
We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no living thing, and therefore one with Him. (W-195.6:1)
Our “little willingness” (T-18.V.2) to remember our “Oneness joined as One” (T-25.I.7) moves us to practice gratitude along these lines. In turn, this practice helps to remove the blocks to our awareness of our reality as pure Love.
At this time of year, it is also traditional to pause and think of others who, in the world’s terms, have less than us. Many religious services offer a moment to pray for others in need or who are facing challenging situations. A well-known Buddhist prayer for the wellbeing of others can be said daily: May all beings be free of suffering. In A Course in Miracles, the practice of gratitude helps us to remember that we are all the same, all equally one with God, regardless of our life circumstances in this dream of a world:
Love makes no comparisons. And gratitude can only be sincere if it be joined to love. We offer thanks to God our Father that in us all things will find their freedom. It will never be that some are loosed while others are bound. For who can bargain in the name of love? (W-195.4:2-6)
The holiday season is often traditionally a time for action, whether it’s making a call or sending a card or text to express words of love and appreciation, or giving gifts, or volunteering time to a cause, or making a donation to a group or organization. A Course in Miracles teaches that our very thoughts are powerful actions. After all, “minds are joined” (Lesson 336) and our thoughts deeply impact one another:
You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of your brothers anywhere. You should want to bless them in return, out of gratitude. You need not know them individually, or they you. The light is so strong that it radiates throughout the Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating his joy upon it. (T-5.in.3:1-4)
Along with the practice of non-judgment and Course-style forgiveness, the practice of gratitude breaks down barriers in our minds and allows us to experience our interconnectedness—and eventually our complete union—with every living thing.
The first paragraph of the Song of Prayer pamphlet describes the beautiful, eternal song of love, joy, and thanks that the Son (i.e., all of us) sings to the Father and the Father sings to the Son. The last paragraph of Workbook Lesson 195 sketches the way to the complete memory of this magnificent, albeit partly-remembered song:
Our gratitude will pave the way to Him, and shorten our learning time by more than you could ever dream of. Gratitude goes hand in hand with love, and where one is the other must be found. For gratitude is but an aspect of the Love which is the Source of all creation. God gives thanks to you, His Son, for being what you are; His Own completion and the Source of love, along with Him. Your gratitude to Him is one with His to you. For love can walk no road except the way of gratitude, and thus we go who walk the way to God. (W-195.10:106)
All quotes are from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd., #306, Novato, CA 94949, www.acim.org and info@acim.org, used with permission.