Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Hebrews 12:2. He made the “sacrifices of righteousness” (Ps. 4:5) that we might live!
That’s when you have spiritual consciousness,
you have everything!
Sound familiar? Absolutely!
Mom used to say when we were youngsters, Joy is J ust, O ur, Y ielding…
Yielding to what? One Mind only, spiritual consciousness!
We could take this on and on but for the moment let’s bask in this Joy in the most humble gratitude, live it and share it.
Recognizing, acknowledging, and appreciating God’s love and works all around us is certainly the one way to true joy. Feeling that love is all-important! Sharing it is our mission.
When you are truly grateful for everything your Father has given you, you will start to find more joy in life and also it will be easier to show love to your neighbors
So true! Thank you Evan! :). We live in an atmosphere of Love. Gratitude is what enables us to receive/experience/partake/see all the love around us. And, experiencing it brings great joy! :). Without gratitude, we have no idea of the magnitude of the Love that surrounds us!
Gratitude is actually a word I had to “unlearn” because for so long it conveyed shades of conditioning and even malevolence such as powerlessness, indebtedness, obligated, and subordination as in the oft heard “ought to be grateful”, and “ungrateful child”, as well as separation and dualism when I heard “sinful humans should be grateful to God or Jesus”. As I began to understand my Source and inner Being never could mean any of this. I realized I could instead use the word “appreciation” – acknowledged unconditional good will, recognition, acceptance, added to or building up, and cherish – and, for me, that feels really good and more aligned to the original intention. And I am truly thankful for the grace of Mind in me that was/is in Christ Jesus!
Thanks for your Honesty, Patty! I do agree that the words, “Grateful” and “Gratitude” have been somewhat overused in C.S. and, yes, like you mentioned, have a scolding sense to them i.e.: “You have no right to feel sad or neglected, you have so much to be Grateful for!” This can be used sometimes to override facing the bad things that have happened or are happening in your life. I have found that the more I notice the good things that come to me each day, and quietly acknowledge them to myself each night before I go to sleep, I start to experience even more Good in my Life. But most importantly, I start to see how a Higher Power is actively working in my life!
Gratitude/joy go hand in hand. I have felt “mountains of sadness” move when I simply praise God in my heart of hearts for Her goodness. Being thankful acknowledges present good and opens out thought to more and more blessings. We are “tuned in” by being thankful, grateful, appreciative, whatever word you like to use!
YES! Gratitude DOES open the door to joy! Gratitude in it’s pure form as opposed to a false misunderstanding of it. When we are embracing gratitude in it’s pure, absolute sense, for that’s the only form it can truly exist in, we are turning away thoroughly from anything that would have us feeling bad, afraid, ashamed, discouraged, doubtful etc. And when we are turning from all those lies, we can’t help but to feel Love, happiness, peace, satisfaction, pleasure, etc. on a high spiritual level. WHAT JOY!!
How right this tiny verse is: there is no joy without gratitude! And that Gratitude opens the door to Joy! Thank you Evan, to make us ponder this important thought.
I must admit, that there was a time, when I thought that I am not thankful enough, in order to give a testimony. And so I did not say anything. But years later the idea came to me – an angel thought – that Gratitude is a quality of God, and as God`s image and likenes we have this quality, like all of God`s precious qualities, built in us by our Maker, divine Love. And so also Joy is a God-given quality, man expresses. So, meanwhile I love to thank God for his gifts, guidance, comfort and healing power, He actually lets us experience daily – thank you God, thank you Evan and thank you all commenter friends for your inspiring and helpful comments 🙂
So true that there is no joy without gratitude. And I’ve experienced healing when I have been so filled with gratitude and joy that the physical picture totally reversed, and I was healed. Mr. Rieke gave a lecture for our college organization and spoke with us afterward. He said joy is the oil in our lives. Just as we wouldn’t say to our car, “I won’t give you any oil until you run right”, so we mustn’t say to ourselves :”I won’t express joy until my life changes.” Joy is the oil that makes our life work right. I’ve never forgotten that!
Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Hebrews 12:2. He made the “sacrifices of righteousness” (Ps. 4:5) that we might live!
That’s when you have spiritual consciousness,
you have everything!
Sound familiar? Absolutely!
Mom used to say when we were youngsters, Joy is J ust, O ur, Y ielding…
Yielding to what? One Mind only, spiritual consciousness!
We could take this on and on but for the moment let’s bask in this Joy in the most humble gratitude, live it and share it.
Wow that’s so sweet! I hadn’t heard that before.
Recognizing, acknowledging, and appreciating God’s love and works all around us is certainly the one way to true joy. Feeling that love is all-important! Sharing it is our mission.
Thank you for the remainder
When you are truly grateful for everything your Father has given you, you will start to find more joy in life and also it will be easier to show love to your neighbors
So true! Thank you Evan! :). We live in an atmosphere of Love. Gratitude is what enables us to receive/experience/partake/see all the love around us. And, experiencing it brings great joy! :). Without gratitude, we have no idea of the magnitude of the Love that surrounds us!
Gratitude is actually a word I had to “unlearn” because for so long it conveyed shades of conditioning and even malevolence such as powerlessness, indebtedness, obligated, and subordination as in the oft heard “ought to be grateful”, and “ungrateful child”, as well as separation and dualism when I heard “sinful humans should be grateful to God or Jesus”. As I began to understand my Source and inner Being never could mean any of this. I realized I could instead use the word “appreciation” – acknowledged unconditional good will, recognition, acceptance, added to or building up, and cherish – and, for me, that feels really good and more aligned to the original intention. And I am truly thankful for the grace of Mind in me that was/is in Christ Jesus!
Thanks for your Honesty, Patty! I do agree that the words, “Grateful” and “Gratitude” have been somewhat overused in C.S. and, yes, like you mentioned, have a scolding sense to them i.e.: “You have no right to feel sad or neglected, you have so much to be Grateful for!” This can be used sometimes to override facing the bad things that have happened or are happening in your life. I have found that the more I notice the good things that come to me each day, and quietly acknowledge them to myself each night before I go to sleep, I start to experience even more Good in my Life. But most importantly, I start to see how a Higher Power is actively working in my life!
Bevi, I love your example of expressing gratitude at the end of your comment. A clear example of gratitude in it’s pure form.
Gratitude/joy go hand in hand. I have felt “mountains of sadness” move when I simply praise God in my heart of hearts for Her goodness. Being thankful acknowledges present good and opens out thought to more and more blessings. We are “tuned in” by being thankful, grateful, appreciative, whatever word you like to use!
YES! Gratitude DOES open the door to joy! Gratitude in it’s pure form as opposed to a false misunderstanding of it. When we are embracing gratitude in it’s pure, absolute sense, for that’s the only form it can truly exist in, we are turning away thoroughly from anything that would have us feeling bad, afraid, ashamed, discouraged, doubtful etc. And when we are turning from all those lies, we can’t help but to feel Love, happiness, peace, satisfaction, pleasure, etc. on a high spiritual level. WHAT JOY!!
How right this tiny verse is: there is no joy without gratitude! And that Gratitude opens the door to Joy! Thank you Evan, to make us ponder this important thought.
I must admit, that there was a time, when I thought that I am not thankful enough, in order to give a testimony. And so I did not say anything. But years later the idea came to me – an angel thought – that Gratitude is a quality of God, and as God`s image and likenes we have this quality, like all of God`s precious qualities, built in us by our Maker, divine Love. And so also Joy is a God-given quality, man expresses. So, meanwhile I love to thank God for his gifts, guidance, comfort and healing power, He actually lets us experience daily – thank you God, thank you Evan and thank you all commenter friends for your inspiring and helpful comments 🙂
So true that there is no joy without gratitude. And I’ve experienced healing when I have been so filled with gratitude and joy that the physical picture totally reversed, and I was healed. Mr. Rieke gave a lecture for our college organization and spoke with us afterward. He said joy is the oil in our lives. Just as we wouldn’t say to our car, “I won’t give you any oil until you run right”, so we mustn’t say to ourselves :”I won’t express joy until my life changes.” Joy is the oil that makes our life work right. I’ve never forgotten that!
Yes, expressing joy will change your life!