Fresh new beginnings

In the New Year, many people are thinking about new ways to do things, setting new goals, and ushering in a sense of freshness and new beginnings. But how do we sustain that throughout the year? I have found that a daily dose of fresh inspiration from contemplative prayer in the morning to be the best way to start my day off right with refreshing and inspiring views.

These views hint to the divine nature — enable me to glimpse beyond the material picture — to a deeper sense of spiritual harmony, goodness, and joy — a force for Good that is powerfully and wonderfully sustaining each of us.

As we drink in these new views of God, the divine nature, our thoughts are uplifted and we feel a sense of our oneness with God. When challenges come up, we are more easily able to address them from a standpoint of poise and grace because we have built a solid spiritual foundation in the morning.

At night before bed, wrapping the day up in gratitude for all the good you experienced and the spiritual qualities you saw expressed around you is a great way to pull up your spiritual Comforter and feel the divine embrace tucking you in. Your Father-Mother God is tenderly caring for your child within and enables you to drink in drafts of Spirit to renew and invigorate you.

Here is an article I wrote for New Year’s about these ideas that was recently published in the Christian Science Sentinel. I hope these ideas will be as useful to you as they have been to me.


Photo credit: Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Gratitude journal


I have a gratitude journal where I jot down lists of the things I’m grateful for.

This morning I decided this would be a great way to start the day. There is a line from a hymn which says “Our gratitude is riches, Complaint is poverty…” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 249)  I knew that the practice of gratitude would open me up to see all the good, all the ways our Father/Mother is expressing Herself.

I had a great weekend with friends. We did a lot of awesome activities and it was really fun. At first I thought I would write down the things we did and the friendships I had that I was grateful for. But I was moved beyond that to really be grateful for the qualities I see & feel expressed, which give proof that the Source of these qualities is real and tangible.

My list went like this:

Thank you for

  • Spirit
  • Love
  • Truth (these are synonyms, or other names for Deity. And I knew that from this Source comes the following that I am grateful for…)
  • virtue, integrity, honesty, kindness, willingness, innocence, affection, tenderness, patience, meekness, kindness, compassion, non-judgemental, no condemnation, purity, joy, unselfishness.

It is such a blessing (and healing) to get to experience and/or express any of these qualities.

What are you grateful for today?