Article May 29, 1920 Issue

Joy and Gratitude

LAURA LOUISE GALSWORTHY

One modern dictionary gives this definition of gratitude: "An emotion excited by the possession or prospect of some good, that will give joy or make glad." Taking one step higher in our search for the explanation of this subject, we find quoted from Phillips Brooks' "Sermons in English Churches," "Thought and the struggle after truth are the best joys of the best men." Then we turn with relief to page 164of Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, and there we read, "What is gratitude but a powerful camera obscura, a thing focusing light where love, memory, and all within the human heart is present to manifest light." What a beautiful thought of radiation is here expressed, a consciousness so full of gratitude, so overflowing with the light of love that it must desire to include all and share with all with whom it comes in contact. Our Leader further tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 8), "If we feel the aspiration, humility, gratitude, and love which our words express,—this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive ourselves or others, for 'there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.'"

May it not be that often we try to deceive ourselves and others by endeavoring to assume a position we have not yet attained, talking from a metaphysical standpoint and with a courage we have not yet made our own? Here one may say: Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 264 of Science and Health, "We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being." Ahyes; we must act, not talk. What a wealth of meaning lies in the difference between those two words! When conditions all around us appear harmonious, and consciousness seems pervaded with a touch of sunlight, it is easy to fancy one's self on the mountain top compassionately ready to assist others to reach this lofty position, but should a testing time arrive and mental confusion and consequent physical discord assert themselves, then we need to pause and ask ourselves if we can stand by our declarations of Truth.

The infinitude of God's law is the fact which renders the belief in any other law null and void and gives us the necessary courage with which to go forward steadily, consistently endeavoring to demonstrate the truth of being, not only in words but in deeds, even when the senses seem persistently to deny and oppose our efforts. The eternal demand on man is for purity of thought, the single eye with which to perceive God's idea and to be ever mentally on guard against the mortal claim of impurity and double-mindedness. What a bugle call to thought and consequently to the realization of God's eternal allness comes to us from the words in the first chapter of Revelation, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." How the mortal sense of time and finity is swept away by this grand declaration, and the infinite wholeness and eternality of God's omnipresence and completeness is brought to light. Matter can set up no opposition, intervene with no obstruction, and occasion no action; for the perfection and operation of God's law in its ordered action is ever present and cannot be delayed, limited, or displaced. We can, therefore, if obedient to what we apprehend of Principle, rest in the knowledge of this perfect law and action. As there is no mortal mind to oppose or misdirect, we must endeavor with unfailing obedience to refuse to give way to the demands of the senses. To manifest true gratitude we must recognize the need of unswerving loyalty to Principle; and the joy of this demand obeyed, brings more clearly to our thought the fact that the true man is but the acting expression of God, perpetually His likeness, thus maintaining the perfect harmony and unity of the true idea. What an uplift and support this knowledge of our rightful and only true relationship to our heavenly Father is, and how grateful we are for the teaching of Christian Science, which exposes the counterfeit suggestions of mortal mind, and so reveals their impotence.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Joy and Gratitude

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access