Think On These Things (Thanksgiving 2010)

"My cup runneth over."

This is the metaphor that David, the biblical writer of the 23rd Psalm, chose to express his personal joy and gratitude for his sense of personal contentment. I thank him for the expression. It so very elegantly communicates my own sense of the same; my joy in my current state of affairs.

At this time of year we tend to focus our gratitude on things we have: whatever our measure of prosperity, whatever our measure of health and love. This is good. May the tradition continue.

In fact, I believe that, in making a daily practice of our annual tradition of gratitude, we have the power to shape the very trajectory of our lives in a most positive manner. I believe that, as the Buddha said, "We ARE what we think." The biblical writer, Solomon, echoed the same sense of things in Proverbs 23, verse 7: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

I offer the quotes above not in deference to some authoritative cachet of their sources; i.e., not to suggest that "These really important Wise Men wrote these things, therefore these things are true." I offer the quotes because I have found the principle verified in my own experience, and I could not express it more powerfully and succinctly.
 
And in extension, I would offer another biblical quote as "words to live by" — the apostle Paul's exhortation to the "church" at Phillipi:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things."

I am grateful that we all share the power to shape our personal worlds and the trajectory of our lives with our own thoughts, our own contemplations.

As we all think in our own hearts, so are we. Is there a more profound blessing than this?