Good Morning

It is said that a certain French count began the day by wishing himself the following “Good morning”: “Bonjour, Monsieur le comte; there are great things for you to do to-day!” Surely in all the world’s history there were never greater things to be done than there are now, and there were never better equipped men and women to do them than those who are striving to follow the words and works of the master Christian, Christ Jesus. And what a happy thought, that we, like the French count, should begin the day by wishing ourselves a “Good morning”! We all need it. If we begin the day by filling our waking thoughts with good, — with joy, gratitude, and a sincere desire to help others more than we have ever done before, — we are wishing ourselves the best kind of “Good morning”; and it brings untold blessings and opportunities into the coming day.

There are many Bible stories of angels who came to speak with men. These angels brought loving, helpful messages, and announced their presence with glad greetings. Those to whom the angels came must have turned their thoughts constantly towards good, to enable them to hear the glad greetings. So we, too, should ever open our thought to good, that we may be prepared to hear the messages which God has for each of His beloved children every moment of the day.

On page 298 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” Mrs. Eddy writes, “Angels are pure thoughts from God;” and if our waking thoughts are held persistently to these angels, we are building a strong defense for the day against the false, wandering, sinful beliefs which might try to stray into and find a place in our thought.

Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,” we read in the Sermon on the Mount; and so it is with right thinking. Naturally and without effort it brings forth right results in our experience. In fact, every happy, harmonious result is the fruit of some happy, harmonious thought; and it is entirely normal and natural. We can each expect to have better results every day by thinking better thoughts, and by knowing more about God, good, and His perfect creation. Surely a practical way to attain this is to begin the day by letting pure thoughts flood our consciousness.

David, brought up as he was, a shepherd lad amongst the sheep in the pasture lands round about Bethlehem, must many times have watched the dawn breaking through the purple clouds of night; and perhaps it was then that he first realized the great blessings which came to him as he raised his early thoughts in prayer and praise to God. He says in the fifth psalm, which has been called “A Morning Prayer,” “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”

With our hearts filled with uplifted, angel thoughts, how gladly we shall go forth to wish the whole world a “Good morning”! What a joyous little greeting it is, this kindly wish with which we meet each other! Just a simple, sincere desire that good shall be with all, filling their early hours, it rings round the world and through the world. And how many times each of us says it, — perhaps just a passing “Good morning” to a stranger; but what may it not accomplish if said from the heart, and with the love which spiritual understanding generates, behind it!

Then, as Henry Van Dyke has written, —

May every morning seem to say
There ‘s something happy on the way,
God sends love to you.