THANK YOU

“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”                     -Maya Angelou

Dear Friends,

I volunteer to teach Sunday School at The Unity Center in Mira Mesa on the fifth Sunday of the month. I was there a week ago and we talked about prayer, and how we pray. One of the Bible verses was:“Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you.” Yes, everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened. We did hand motions for Ask, Search and Knock.

One of the most important ideas I shared was the importance of saying THANK YOU in prayers. I told the children the idea and the words ‘Thank you’ are like magic. We pray knowing God within hears our prayers. We do not need to beg and certainly not try to make “deals” with God. Saying Thank you even before we pray shows our faith and belief in the prayer being answered. I told the children I often say Thank you first, Thank you in the middle of the prayer and always Thank you at the end of the prayer. For we know PRAYER changes US, it does not change God. “Before we have called, God has answered.” GOD already knows what we want and most importantly what we need. It is up to us to have FAITH and BELIEVE our prayers will be answered for the highest good of all!

Remember GOD is LOVE and is always pouring forth LOVE in so many ways. Being grateful opens the door to more blessings, goodness, abundance and joy. When our hearts are filled with LOVE and GRATITUDE we are a beacon and magnet for a multitude of blessings and goodness coming into our lives.

“Gratitude shifts our awareness from absence to presence, from lack to abundance from despair to Divine perspective. Our heart opens wider to love’s blessings and to the sacred pulse of life.”-Rev. Dr. Soni Cantrell Smith.