Living as gratitude, being thankful
Welcome to November, a month set aside for gratitude, for opening our hearts to the gentle art of being thankful.
So often, up until now, we have been taught to anchor our thankfulness in outer circumstances -- when life lines up neatly, when we have what we want, when the sun seems to shine just for us. How easy it is to offer thanks when everything is going our way.
Yet, true gratitude, the kind that transforms and uplifts, does not rely on conditions. It is not a reward for a perfect life. True gratitude lives and breathes within us; it is the quiet, comforting song of the soul, humming beneath the noise of daily living.
Take a breath with me. Now, exhale. Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth reminds us, “Life is consciousness.” Our awareness of gratitude is not a fleeting reaction – it is a conscious presence. As we practice nurturing gratitude, we awaken to our profound connection with the Divine within, and from this awareness, thankfulness can spring forth.
The Apostle Paul shared in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In all things give thanks.” This stirs my heart. Notice, he doesn’t say to be thankful for all things, Paul says be thankful in all things. This invites you and me to keep our hearts open, to let gratitude flow no matter what or how the world presents to us. Living in the flow of Spirit means we get to give thanks, not because everything is perfect, but because we are rooted in something deeper -- we are rooted in our unity with God.
And yet, there are days when we wonder, “What is there to be thankful for?” The answer is as close as our next breath. Thankfulness is not about adding up blessings; it is about allowing gratitude to well up from within.
After 36 years of being a Unity Truth student, I have discovered this: We do not need reasons to be grateful. We need only to open our hearts to the divine spark within, and gratitude will naturally arise, especially when we remember our oneness with God.
Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still and know.” For me, there is such comfort in knowing that God is the reality at the heart of our beings and, therefore, we live, move, and have our very being in God.
This month is a reminder that we are invited into a life of gratitude -- not as an obligation, rather the choice to choose joy. We can allow our prayers to become expressions of deep appreciation, flowing from our sense of unity and our consciousness of oneness with Spirit. Set aside time for quiet reflection, prayer and meditation, letting our hearts settle into thanksgiving. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. In this way, being grateful transforms our vision, allowing us to witness goodness in every moment.
As we nurture this attitude, we nourish our connection with the Divine, and true thankfulness becomes our everyday way of being. May you walk through this month as gratitude embodied, being grateful in every breath and thankful with every step. Many Blessings.
Rev. Therese Donlan Lee is the senior minister of Unity Spiritual Center on Hilton Head Island. revthereseunityhiltonhead@gmail.com.
