Article May 9, 1936 Issue

The Power of Gratitude

D. MURIEL SAVARY

Most of us have been taught from childhood to say, "Thank you!" when we have received a gift or some expression of kindness. Sometimes we do indeed feel grateful, but at other times formal thanks are given merely because this form of speech has become a habit, resulting from early training rather than from heartfelt gratitude. Often it is used without even a thought of its real meaning or value.

Yet such is the power of gratitude that in those moments when we are really grateful we naturally radiate so much love and joy that both we ourselves and the giver are made doubly happy, while those around us are often lifted out of some dark fear. They feel renewed hope and encouragement as they share the happiness shining forth in some expression of appreciation. If, then, so much good is possible from an expression of gratitude for human kindness, how much greater power have consistent gratitude and praise to our Father-Mother God, the Giver of all good, for His unceasing provision of harmony and happiness to man!

And here, by turning to the life and works of Christ Jesus, our Exemplar, we find how truly the Master paved the way for us to realize the unlimited supply of good by showing us the power of consistent gratitude to God. He elevated the human concept of thanksgiving into the heights of consistent spiritual expectancy and acknowledgment of ever-present and abundant good, even when the human difficulty was most apparent. He did not wait until harmony was restored before giving thanks to God for His unfailing goodness, and for man's ability to reflect Him. Thus, when there appeared to be lack of food for the five thousand, Jesus could with confidence lift his thought above the material evidence of lack, and, giving thanks to God, prove the ever-present abundance of supply. And twelve baskets of fragments were gathered after the meal! True substance is incapable of limitation.

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