Expressing Gratitude

ARTHUR T. LEWIS

It is easy to express gratitude after receiving some long desired favor or upon achieving some long sought objective. Amid halcyon days, when skies are bright and every hope seems well-nigh realized, thankfulness wells up without effort. In the seeming presence of pain, lack, or loss, it may not seem so simple to be grateful. Yet every student of Christian Science knows that gratitude is vital to his wellbeing, vital to his health and harmony.

In the face of a disappointed hope, how can one truly and with pure motive express gratitude? Surely one way is to persist, with all the fervor of one's understanding, in affirming man's spiritual nature and perfect wholeness as the likeness of God, infinite good. Thus one may honestly acknowledge gratitude for a demonstration which has yet to become appreciable to human perception. A perfect example of this state of mind is found in Jesus' attitude at the tomb of Lazarus. Despite the contrary beliefs of those about him, Jesus was able to offer thanks for a fact of which he was certain, and which he knew was about to be made manifest to skeptical onlookers. "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me," he said, "and I knew that thou hearest me always." And Lazarus arose from the tomb.

Though we may not yet feel capable of reaching so high a plane of spiritual realization as that of Jesus, we can, nevertheless, make a positive beginning in that direction. Mary Baker Eddy has written, on page 3 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more."

One who for many years had experienced the benefits of Christian Science found himself greatly in need of healing from a subtly distressing physical condition. Daily he gave attention to the problem, striving to perceive its falsity. After a time, in obedience to the admonition of our Leader on page 420 of Science and Health, he requested aid from a Christian Science practitioner. Thereupon followed marked improvement in his condition, although several distressing symptoms still persisted.

In the Wednesday evening meetings of the church he attended, this student had frequently voiced gratitude for blessings resulting from his study of Christian Science. Now he realized that for several months he had sat silent during the Wednesday evening meetings, waiting until he could voice gratitude for complete healing of the particular phase of error which troubled him. Then he saw the importance of expressing gratitude continually. Even while apparently suffering, he had been wonderfully blessed in many ways. He had passed through a winter without a trace of a troublesome condition which was wont to recur regularly at that season. His family had been well. In the face of a business depression and reduced income, he had been able to do a number of things he had long desired to do and which formerly had seemed impossible. As he thought of the wonderful blessings he had received in the previous months, his heart was filled with thanksgiving to God.

The next Wednesday he went to church with the intention of breaking his silence. He could express gratitude for these many blessings and for a large degree of freedom from the troublesome condition. Inspired anew by his vision of God's goodness, he felt that he could honestly utter praise for a revivified assurance of complete freedom. That evening, toward the close of the period devoted to the giving of testimonies, during the first appreciable pause, this student arose, and at the same time another member of the congregation stood and testified. As a consequence, the student's testimony remained unspoken.

However, as Mrs. Eddy has written (Science and Health, p. 1), "Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind." The gratitude realized in this desire to testify enabled the student to reach the Father who "seeth in secret," and he was rewarded openly. From that time on there was no further appearance of the distressing symptoms. At a following Wednesday evening meeting the student was able to testify joyfully to entire freedom from the condition which had bound him.

Contending against some persistent error of belief, a Christian Scientist sometimes works so intently to free himself that he becomes unaware of other blessings. Such a state of thought may seem to accentuate belief in the discordant condition. To make the expression of gratitude contingent upon a seeming physical condition is to lend our credence and support to physicality and all the errors that spring from it.

Let us, then, in gratitude acknowledge the blessings we have received, for in so doing we at the same time turn from contemplation of the error that would assert its fraudulent claims. Receiving no more attention than is necessary to destroy it, any erroneous belief disappears into nothingness. In the presence of gratitude, error truly is impotent.

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