In human experience, gratitude is called forth as the result of kindness or generosity, bringing with it often a sense of obligation, a personal feeling of indebtedness. Because of this, it is likely to turn from gratitude to disappointment, even resentment, if the kindness or generosity is removed, or no longer measures up to what is anticipated. When men learn to be grateful for qualities expressed rather than for benefits received or hoped for, seeing them as the universal expression of the one Giver, the basis for appreciation and acknowledgment of all blessings will be established. Moreover, a fear of their capricious or unavoidable withdrawal will then be overcome. As long as the individual looks to persons as a means of good, as long as he seeks to influence or coerce others in obtaining or retaining favors, the source of permanent blessings is unknown.

In the French language it is notable that the word "gratitude" is identical with "recognition." With that in view we see that we are free to choose whether our recognition of good shall be merely personal or whether it shall be spiritual.

The remark is frequently heard, "I really am very lucky," as the individual contemplates his good fortune and blessings, sometimes in comparison with his more hapless neighbor. That which accepts luck or a haphazard contingency of circumstances as its arbiter can know no security. Only he who is conscious of God's government, of spiritual law, eternal, universal, unchanging, directing his thought, preserving his health, providing his substance, can feel such gratitude as is expressed in these words of Jesus: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." He who begins in divine Science to comprehend his true being, and therefore his oneness with Mind, lays hold of the fundamental cause for gratitude. In spiritual communion, eternal knowing and eternal hearing are assured.

Greatly did Mary Baker Eddy emphasize the need for gratitude among her followers, and she expressed it herself in continual praise to God. She did so not less amidst persecution and misunderstandings, which must attend any great pioneer, than in the moments of victory and reward. In patience and confidence, she worked to bring enlightenment to the world, reminding us on page 1 of "Miscellaneous Writings" that "to kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs to be understood." It was to this that she gave her whole life once she had discovered the Science of being—not only in making it practical, as had Christ Jesus in healing sickness and destroying sin, but in making it understood.

Her supreme discovery that good alone is real, and evil therefore unreal, is in itself enough to have earned our eternal gratitude. Never again, whatever the ruthlessness and violence of its pretended aspect, need men fight evil as reality. "I thank thee that thou hast heard me," will continue to be the prayer of gratitude to God in the heart of every challenger of evil. He will know that causeless, lawless, powerless evil cannot withstand the omnipresence of cause, of law, of power.

Amidst the clamor of mortal arguments and material evidence, amidst the myriad frets and frictions, the tyrannies, injustices, recriminations, and distresses of mortal existence, let men now rise to the apprehension that in spiritual recognition there is uninterrupted spiritual knowing. In gratitude for the revelation of Truth which makes him see reality in the place of illusion—even as Jesus saw not a buried but a living Lazarus—the Christian Scientist sets out to transform his thinking. In gratitude for the good which is infinitely his to have and use, he can rejoice in the blessings and the rewards which come to others as to himself. In this universal, all-embracing consciousness of Love's bestowals, he is eternally aware of that which is heard, and which he forever hears.

Those who knew our Leader and those who have thoughtfully studied her writings, realize with what spontaneity she expressed gratitude for the good she perceived in others. On page 164 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" she writes, "What is gratitude but a powerful camera obscura, a thing focusing light where love, memory, and all within the human heart is present to manifest light."

Since everything in the human heart is called upon to manifest light, then within its focus thanksgiving must be found for the achievements of others, for their triumphs and rewards, not less than for our own.

May every Christian Scientist whose gleam of gratitude for Truth has been kindled, find it in his heart to encourage and thereby facilitate, wherever possible, the labors of all those who seek in sincerity and devotion to serve the cause of Truth.

The recognition of the ever-presence of God, who is Love, the knowing that He hears us always, will thus be experienced in the continuous unfolding of good. Gleams of gratitude for Truth will continue to be kindled in men's hearts, and the words of Paul to the Ephesians will be more practical in daily lives, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father."

Evelyn F. Heywood