Thrive!

This morning I make my coffee dark and strong. I am instantly rewarded with the rich taste in my mouth, quickly followed by that fun, playful, convivial caffeine kick.

I sit on the couch. My very soft cat comes and sits beside me. I put my fingers in her fluffy fur. She purrs: I purr.

I pray, “God, encourage me, help me, bring good to me and my people.” God answers me, “I am.”

Built into the universe is an incredibly rich, instrinsic, automatic perpetuation of what is good. Yesterday I dug in the yard at the church, preparing the soil for the beautiful flowers that will bloom yellow and purple there soon. I prepare for the good; I will see the good.

Built into every good action is an equal and positive reaction. I cleaned the carpet at home this week. I sit this morning and look at the smooth, unstained surface. I feel satisfied. I find in simple things one of the grand universal laws of auto-causal, socio-geograhical, physio-spiritual psychodynamics.

Seek good; find good. Do good; think good. Be good; feel good. Good follows hard on the heels of every good.

I make my daughter’s dinner. She comes to help. We sit and eat together. We play a game of Yahtzee. The dice click. We laugh at what comes up. I roll two Yahtzees. We relax into what we have made — love, fun, safety, human warmth, family.

Just as in every act of evil there is harm to the doer, in every act of goodness there is an immediate reward for the actor.

Tonight I will have people over to my house for dinner. As I give them care, I will immediately experience their love, friendship and warmth. Especially if I think of them, and not my house, of them and not myself, of them and not my worries — good will come to me and to them.

To experience good, we must do good, to revel in good, we must place the good in front of us — we must bathe in it, soak in it, relax into it, let it relax into us.

I sit writing. I breathe deeply. In these confessions of the truth there is good. I sit quietly. Good falls on me like rain. I am watered — at rest.

The rewards of goodness  — they’re everywhere!