Article August 29, 1994 Issue

Don't forget your trumpet

Mary Higgins Reed

Some time ago I began to observe what types of things Biblical characters carried when they went out on God-appointed missions. Gideon and his people, for instance, took lamps and trumpets (see Judg. 7:16). To me the trumpets could stand for gratitude and a firm expectancy that right will win out in the events of the day.

I have found it is important to choose gratitude to accompany me. Appreciation to God for blessings is a good way to pray while going about a busy day. Just a silent "Thank you, God," brings a rush of spiritual inspiration, flowing right along with whatever activity one is engaged in. Going out with gratitude also means going out with love. When we see others through the eyes of spiritual affection and forgiveness, we are ready to appreciate what they are doing. This love, expressed with grace and joy, is a trumpet of gratitude, possibly even trumpeted aloud.

My mother, like many moms, had her hands full with community work, church duties, and housework. Whenever she went outside to hang up the weekly wash, she would sing nearly a dozen hymns. That was her trumpet of gratitude. Through Christian Science she was learning more of man's spiritual nature as a child of God, good. Since each individual is actually the reflection of Him, she saw she could love even in the seeming presence of hate, gossip, laziness, immaturity, or lack. Trumpeted love and joy can outblast, outlast, and overcome these traits.

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