“Grateful For No-thing” by Reverend Lola Wright

As we conclude the last segment of our Building the beLOVEd Community series with a focus on our eight Spiritual Practices, Rev. Lola Wright gave her message, “Grateful for No-thing,” in which she talks about three different types of gratitude. See the message notes below.

Opening

• Gratitude – my FAVORITE Spiritual Practice
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – we are beyond survival!
• See what no one else sees. See what everyone else chooses not to see…

By User:Factoryjoe (Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs.svg) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Objectives

Explore and determine consciousness of Gratitude

States of Gratitude Consciousness

1. Reactive Gratitude
2. Reflective Gratitude
3. Generative Gratitude

Points

Reactive Gratitude

J.P. pregnancy and birth. To experience Gratitude in response to something.

• 6 pregnancies – 2 miscarriages and 4 births
• Pregnancy for me is traumatic
• IUD
• RELIEF

Reflective Gratitude

Shower in Cuba. To experience Gratitude in acknowledging what is.

• Profound awareness
• Present to what is
• Awake to what I had taken for granted
• Most of us camp out on the Gratitude Journal

Generative Gratitude

From the inside out…for no good reason.

• Gratitude is not tied to circumstances or conditions. It is a generative practice that is accessed from the inside out and based on the Law of Good!
• “Pray without ceasing.” This means to be always on the affirmative side of life. To pray without ceasing is to doubt never, but to always trust in the Law of Good. “In everything give thanks.” An attitude of gratitude is most salutary, and bespeaks the realization that we are now in heaven. Gratitude is one of the chief graces of human existence. (Science of Mind, 497)
• Rev. Vince Kueffner on Prayer – our predominant conversation/dialogue. “I want to live a life of Prayer.”
• Rev. Christy Snow on Meditation – our conscious awareness/attention. “Fertile soil of expectancy.”
• For those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. (Matthew 13.12 NRSV)
• Certified Organic Farm takes 3 years…time, patience, and tilling of consciousness…the prayer tilled soil of your heart.

Summary

Patch Adams Clip
See what no one else sees. See what everyone else chooses not to see…

Closing

No matter what our emotional storm, or what our objective situation, may be, there is always a something hidden in the inner being that has never been violated. (Science of Mind, 33)