Article January 22, 1910 Issue

LESSONS IN GRATITUDE

W. LUETCHFORD.

As I went about my work one morning, the thought of gratitude came to me with great force. It was bright and sunny, and every one I met seemed to be grateful for the lovely spring day, for the opening bud and the unfolding leaf. It reminded me that Christian Scientists, too, are grateful for the unfolding of the truth as explained in their text-book. Mrs. Eddy tells us that if we are grateful for the blessings already received, we shall receive to the overflowing,—even as David said, "My cup runneth over." It seemed to me on this morning that the unfolding of the beauties of nature on every side had silenced the murmurings of mortals, and that praise and thanksgiving had taken their rightful place. It seemed as if all knew that the Lord was in His holy temple, and that the ingratitude of mortal mind was once and forever silenced before the presence of Truth, Life, and Love.

It is easy to be grateful when all is sunny and bright, but to me one of the most beautiful songs of thanksgiving which we find in the Scriptures is that expressed by the prophet Habakkuk, who says, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." If the prophet could rejoice and be grateful under such apparently straitened circumstances, was it not because he recognized man's spiritual sonship and realized that Life is God, Spirit, and not in matter; thus bringing home to us the truth taught in Christian Science. Paul urges us to set our affections "on things above, not on things on the earth;" that our life "is hid with Christ in God."

Our beloved Leader tells in Science and Health (p. 511) that the birds, those beautiful creatures "which fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring above and beyond corporeality to the understanding of incorporeality and divine Principle, Love." These tiny objects, proofs of the heavenly Father's care for His creatures, teach us lessons of gratitude even in the dull days of winter. The redbreast cheers us with his merry little song of praise for the few morsels scattered by a loving hand on the snow, and there are many more ready to return us a song for the care and kindly thought toward them in time of need. The song-thrush, perched high up in the leafless elm or oak, may often be heard singing his morning or evening song of praise. Does not this remind us of the psalmist, who said. "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." One of the most beautiful of these songsters is the skylark, who is seldom seen except when he is soaring far above the earth, so that all which we know of him is his sweet song.

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