Grateful giving covers a large area for every Christian Scientist. The willingness to give must necessarily include a willingness to devote time and thought to finding the best way of giving in every situation. This best way includes Christlike patience and tender love, linked with never-failing gratitude to God for the truth revealed in Christian Science.

Sometimes we may lose an opportunity to give while waiting to render a service we may deem more worth while, forgetting that a kindly thought or a word of praise may change the whole current of a needy one's life. Encouragement many times is the one thing needed to lift a brother man out of discouragement and hopelessness. It is needed to water the soil of every thirsty heart. If we have felt the need of encouragement ourselves—and who has not—we shall be watchful that we do not withhold it from others. Our ability to encourage others must spring from an understanding of God, and a selfless desire to see from their viewpoint. The opposite attitude of condemnation is apt to arise from too hastily judging conditions as they appear on the surface, thus allowing a critical attitude to take the place of the love which reflects Love, and which would heal the condition.

In establishing the Wednesday meetings, our Leader has afforded us a wonderful opportunity for grateful giving. We realize that the object of these meetings is to praise God for the demonstration of Truth, to help our fellow men, and thus pay in a small measure our debt of gratitude for all that Christian Science has done and is continuously doing for mankind. The many experiences we have heard from people who have been healed or encouraged to make a fresh start as a result of hearing testimonies of healing given by others, enable us to welcome these weekly opportunities, even though our own speaking may entail much self-sacrifice, much putting down of sensitiveness and fear. Sometimes we may fear the unusual experience of hearing our own voice in public, or perhaps more often may dread other people's opinions. A deep yearning to give is the only remedy for these phases of self.

Perhaps if we remind ourselves that our church has invited the public to be our guests on these occasions, we shall realize that it is our part as church members to help and comfort the guests who have been invited. Do we not express this courtesy in our homes? Can we be hindered from sharing our blessings with others? Without the desire to share, how would these testimony meetings be sustained? We remember the words of one of our hymns:

Another cause for gratitude is the opportunity to express the loving-kindness which human relationships afford us. Are we grateful enough for these opportunities? It is evident that since we live in families and communities, we cannot live unto ourselves. The question then arises, How can we best express our gratitude for the privileges afforded us in our living together?

Perhaps one of the hindrances to our being grateful may be a personal, possessive sense. This sense, we know from experience, smothers and stultifies. An attitude of possession many times blocks individual progress. "Loose him, and let him go," should surely ring out in every family, in every community, in every church. How apt we are to bind one another under the guise of love! Yet we know there is no real love in a sense of possessiveness. The "me and mine" attitude obscures love. Birds in flight might serve as an illustration. They frequently fly besides one another, but this in no way interferes with their individual flight.

The cruelty of being obliged to live, or of obliging others to live, under continual criticism surely retards progress. Are we not grateful to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for showing us that we may escape this bondage by learning to reflect divine Love? What a different outlook we have as we begin to understand the meaning of the word "reflection"! Does it not mean to shine because it is our real nature to do so? Does not this understanding counteract the attitude which tempts us to force what we feel we know on some relative or friend, even though this relative or friend may not be ready to accept what we have to give, in spite of our feeling that we are well equipped to impart our knowledge?

As we learn to reflect God we give members in a home or a community the freedom to advance in the only way it is really possible for them to advance—by being free to follow the light as they see it. In "Miscellaneous Writings" our Leader gives this wise advice (pp. 302, 303): "I recommend that students stay within their own fields of labor, to work for the race; they are lights that cannot be hid, and need only shine from their home summits to be sought and found as healers physical and moral." If this admonition were more faithfully carried out, should we not have homes, communities, and churches filled with grateful individuals ready to express their gratitude for Truth and Love, whenever opportunities presented themselves?

Another phase of the human mind that beclouds gratitude is self-importance. How is it possible to be really grateful for all that God bestows while we are laboring under the impression that we originate Godlike qualities instead of reflect them? When we consider that all the love, wisdom, and intelligence we express comes from God, the only source of good, where is there any room left for self-importance? Paul asks: "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" We remember that Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do nothing." Would not this statement, if accepted, forever dispel the belief that we ourselves can originate anything real? If we really understood that statement of his, would it not enable us to destroy both self-importance and self-depreciation? Self-importance is so flimsy, so blinding, yet so apparent to the discerning onlooker, that it deceives no one but its victims. Can self-importance and gratitude dwell together? There is no gratitude in the "me and mine" attitude.

One method of increasing a sense of self-importance or of self-depreciation is by comparing our progress with that of those with whom we come in contact. If, however, we compare our progress with Jesus' standard, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," we shall retain a deep sense of humility, and be continuously grateful to our Leader for having shown us how we may advance towards perfection.

Self-will is another phase of mortal thought that is very blinding. Self-will generally causes restlessness; it pushes and strives to gain its own way, and by so doing loses what it is determined to possess. Does not this attitude always engender a lack of consideration for others? A remedy for self-will is gratitude. Someone has spoken of gratitude as "the perfume of the rose that ladens the morning air at the coming of dawn." Gratitude paves the way for grateful giving. When our hearts are filled with gratitude to God, we shall better understand and live the beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. ... Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."