The two words that should always be on the tip of our mind's tongue are "Thank God." Not just "God," but "THANK God." This is the atmosphere and environment in which our inner heart must constantly dwell. It is wholesome, holy, beautiful, and serene. But cannot Love exist without prior benefit? Is it not purer so? Must Love be built merely on thankfulness for something received? Well, are we speaking of theory, or reality? And are we speaking of the primary Root, or of the subsequent Flower? "We love BECAUSE He first loved us," John says. Could we do it, if He hadn't? No. We are mere flesh. We would not have either the knowledge or the power ourselves. Let us get a true picture of the flesh: not the proud human fantasy of it. God had to show us, and motivate us. Our thanks are for the power and enlightenment of His Love -- the essential root of all we can ever be. Once He has set in motion this glorious process, once He has lit the Lamp and kindled the fire, then Love indeed can go forth and initiate goodness without prior benefit, because its living roots always reach back to this, and to Him.

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