Article November 22, 1924 Issue

Thanksgiving

ROBERT ELLIS KEY

Thanksgiving day as an annual institution is rapidly spreading beyond the American continent and becoming, it may be said, an international event. Christian Scientists look forward to the Thanksgiving season with great joy. They are always ready to give thanks, because they have much to be grateful for; and one of the first qualities a Christian Scientist begins to understand is gratitude. The word "gratitude" is derived from the Latin gratus, signifying "agreeable"; and surely it is a very pleasant thing to feel in agreement with the divine nature, through which man, made in the image and likeness of God, reflects the health, order, and glory of his creator.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has given us many rare gems of thought on the subject of thanksgiving. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (pp. 230-232) she draws a very happy picture of a Thanksgiving Day dinner at which four generations were assembled to commemorate this national festival. The table was laden with good things; a happy group sat around to enjoy the fare; and the spirit of benevolence and gratitude embraced the proceedings. She tells us, "It was a beautiful group! needing but canvas and the touch of an artist to render it pathetic, tender, gorgeous."

As Mrs. Eddy invariably writes out of her deep spiritual experience, we can readily understand that this article of hers is intended to convey more than a material picture of a Thanksgiving dinner. It has seemed to the writer to epitomize that spiritual feast of Truth and Love at which Christian Scientists congregate annually for thanksgiving. At this service they tell of the fruits of heaven, harmony, which their Father-Mother God from the infinite storehouse of goodness has bestowed upon them. Throughout the year these fruits have been maturing in each individual's experience; and albeit some of them have already been shared at the weekly testimony meetings, they are not thereby diminished, but are still available to nourish and sustain.

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