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Jared explains what silent treatment is in Christian Science (not be confused with the silent treatment!) and shares that Mrs. Eddy once described a Christian Science treatment as “the absolute acknowledgement of Infinite Perfection.”
Jared shared with us of the importance of gratitude in seeing the abundance God is pouring out continually. He reminded us that Jesus thanked God BEFORE the loaves and the fishes multiplied and invited us to approach our day with an attitude of gratitude.
We come up different ways families support each other and Jared tells a couple stories of how his family taught him spiritual lessons – including not being influenced by impressions that aren’t true.
Overview: I have always loved reading about Peter in the Bible, and from conversations with others it seems I am not alone. There is a lot to love about Peter. He is dedicated, eager and insightful, but he also has several missteps along the way that lead to hard lessons. I think that is what makes him so relatable, because he shows that following the teachings of Christ is a process and a journey. In this lesson on Truth we see Peter grow from student to teacher as he learns about the healing power of Truth.
The Responsive Reading shares the bountiful blessings that come from a world governed by divine Love. The hungry are fed, the oppressed receive justice, man is healed, needs are met with abundance and so many other good results.
The foundation of this year’s Thanksgiving lesson centers around the definition of “good” found in the glossary of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy.
As I read through this lesson, I had a song playing over and over again in my head. It’s one of my favorite camp songs called Love Is Something If You Give It Away. The chorus goes “Love is something if you give it away, you’ll end up having more,” and the single verse goes, “Love is something like a magic penny. Hold it tight and you won’t have any. Lend it, spend it, you’ll have so many, they’ll roll all over the floor.” This song and the 2014 Thanksgiving lesson point out that the more generously you give, the more you are able to witness and receive good.
As we gather this season with our families, churches and communities to ponder and share gratitude, let us remember where these blessings came from. All good comes from God. Everything that is good, that we have seen in our lives, originated from and is a blessing from God to his highest ideas.
The Golden Text is mostly comprised of a sermon given by David. He was so overwhelmed with gratitude at this moment that these words came out at a feast and celebration. David credits God for creating and being all good and is simply grateful to be able to see and express that good.
In this time of Thanksgiving it is natural for us to examine the experiences in our lives and give gratitude, but we would be better to practice recognizing God-given good so often that our hearts well up like Davids on a regular basis.
As the U.S. national holiday of Thanksgiving fast approaches [this coming Thursday] and we take time to ponder what we are grateful for, we may do well to ask ourselves, To what extent are we grateful? Are we grateful enough to tell others of our gratitude? Are we grateful enough to shout our gratitude from the hilltops and housetops? Are we grateful enough to sing about our gratitude? The Golden Text and Responsive Reading of this years Thanksgiving Bible Lesson call on us to do just that. They ask us to be so grateful for the good we have seen in our lives that we are willing to sing our praise and thanks to God. It calls for our gratitude to overflow from our hearts so completely that the hills, fields and animals around us break out into song with us as if we were in an animated musical.