Article April 7, 1923 Issue

The Yoke of Gratitude

FRANCES H. PARKER

Not long ago a Christian Scientist, at the close of a very dark day, sought refuge in a Wednesday evening testimony meeting. The problem of unemployment had entered her home. The lack of needed supply had been growing daily more acute through several weeks; and despair was beginning to grip the household. As she moved slowly through the surrounding gloom toward the doorway into the church, a desperate longing for even an instant's freedom from the weight that her present understanding of the divine Principle of supply seemed incompetent to overthrow, dimly gave form to a desire for an opportunity to express gratitude for something.

Throughout the meeting this seed of desire grew. She so wanted to voice specific gratitude for some concrete blessing! Error granted that certain blessings had been realized, but quelled the possibility of testimony with the suggestion that she had mentioned them all in previous remarks before the same congregation; so she kept still. Then error, as it invariably will, went a step too far. Since the day when she began to endeavor to lead a life of scientifically Christian practice, it said, need had faced her more often than in the earlier days when she just drifted with the current,—the current of mortal beliefs. Error had given the clue which hastened its own destruction, for she knew that she was grateful for the continuous activity of Christian Science in daily living.

While entertaining this angelic visitant, error protested that the meeting was about to close, so there would be no time for her to say anything then. But there was time; and she used it. The glorious fact that she was no longer subject to the former lack of vitality, which had hindered the performance of her daily tasks, filled her thought. An inflooding of gratitude swept over her, and the menacing problem of the present dropped away into its native nothingness. That the telephone bell rang as soon as she had reentered her home, bringing news of the manner in which the need for employment had been met, seemed only a natural consequence; for she had taken the yoke of gratitude upon her, and there was the promised rest.

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The Beloved Son
April 7, 1923
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