Action!

When nothing moves forward - move gratitude forward! Action!

"Action expresses more gratitude than speech," writes Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in the chapter "Prayer" on Page three. What would an action be which expresses gratitude? Anything that honors Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Mind, Spirit, Principle - synonyms for God. Any deed of good. Actions speak louder than words, a contemporary saying goes.

But think deeper. Remember the allness of Spirit, the oneness of divine Mind. So real action must be something more than just moving arms and legs, as vital as this is. Real action is real, authentic, a real movement. So a real action has to do with the heart.  Our heart, representing in Bible talk where we stand. On the same page of Science and Health we read: "While the heart is far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives."

So move gratitude forward and take care of your heart. Heartfelt appreciation of goodness grounds you in the now and lets you perceive in the now all the good already here. Truth, Life, Love. An action that expresses more gratitude than speech is for example: To stop denying the presence of good. Really. No speech, action! Honesty is an action replacing craftiness for real. Criticism cancelled by generosity, complaining counteracted with discipline, nosiness replaced by mercy are actions. A touch of judgment averted with humility is an action. A sigh replaced by silent willingness to serve is an action. A cliche substituted with real interest is an action.

​This is not new stuff - a Biblical bit of advice goes like this:

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. (...) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned..." (Philippians 4: 6,8,9. NLT). ​