Lesson 123
- Be Grateful, Be Thankful, Be Glad
- Today let us be thankful. We have come
- to gentler pathways and to smoother roads.
- There is no thought of turning back and no
- implacable resistance to the truth.
- A bit of wavering remains – some small
- objections and a little hesitance.
- But you can well be grateful for your gains,
- which are far greater than you realize.
- A day devoted now to gratitude
- will add the benefit of some insight
- into the real extent of all the gains
- which you have made, the gifts you have received.
- Be glad today in loving thankfulness.
- Your father has not left you to yourself,
- nor let you wander in the dark alone.
- Be grateful he has saved you from the self
- you thought you made to take the place of him
- and his creation. Give him thanks today.
- Give thanks that he has not abandoned you
- and that his love forever will remain
- shining on you , forever without change.
- Give thanks as well that you are changeless, for
- the son he loves is changeless as himself.
- Be grateful you are saved. Be glad you have
- a function in salvation to fulfill.
- Be thankful that your value far transcends
- your meager gifts and petty judgments of
- the one whom god established as his son.
- Today in gratitutde we lift our hearts
- above despair, and raise our thankful eyes,
- no longer looking downward to the dust.
- We sing the song of thankfulness today,
- in honor of the self that god has willed
- to be our true identity in him.
- Today we smile on everyone we see
- and walk with lightened footsteps as we go
- to do what is appointed us to do.
- We do not go alone, and we give thanks,
- that in our solitude a friend has come
- to speak the saving word of god to us.
- And thanks to you for listening to him.
- His word is soundless if it be not heard.
- In thanking him the thanks are yours as well.
- An unheard message will not save the world,
- however mighty be the voice that speaks,
- however loving may the message be.
- Thanks be to you who heard, for you become
- the messenger who brings his voice with you,
- and lets it echo round and round the world.
- Receive the thanks of god today, as you
- give thanks to him. For he would offer you
- the thanks you give, since he receives your gifts
- in loving gratitude, and gives them back
- a thousand and a hundred thousand more
- than they were given. He will bless your gifts
- by sharing them with you. And so they grow
- in power and in strength, until they fill
- the world with gladness and with gratitude.
- Receive his thanks and offer yours to him
- for fifteen minutes twice today.. And you
- will realize to whom you offer thanks,
- and whom he thanks as you are thanking him.
- This holy half an hour given him
- will be returned to you in terms of years
- for every second; power to save the world
- eons more quickly for your thanks to him.
- Receive his thanks and you will understand
- how lovingly he holds you in his mind,
- how deep and limitless his care for you,
- how perfect is his gratitude to you.
- Remember hourly to think of him,
- and give him thanks for everything he gave
- his son, that he might rise above the world,
- remembering his father and his self.
