Article December 4, 1943 Issue

Gratitude—Its Power and Availability

MILTON ROBERT CORNISH

Gratitude for God's goodness is a heavenly state of thought which brings us instantly into righteous acknowledgment of God's creation. Gratitude is mental; it is a state of receptivity, a quality of right thinking; it is the confident acknowledgment and assurance that God's power and presence are all there is and ever can be; in short, gratitude is a spiritual sense of God's nearness and completeness.

We best express our gratitude by consciously reflecting the substance which is God, and this reflection objectifies itself in our human experience as a healthy body, a happy home and surroundings, and a more abundant sense of supply. If we really know God and are humbly grateful for His blessings, no fictitious power or fear of mortal mind can keep us from expressing the gratitude we feel in our hearts.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 79), the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, "Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us." It follows that God does not give to us in order that we in return should withhold what He gives; but God gives to us that we in turn may give to others. By keeping our thought humble, our love for mankind unselfed, we shall be able actively to discern and express God's love for us. His love is expressed through us—not exclusively to us or by us. As our consciousness is purified, we become recipients of divine Love through the spiritually mental process of giving, rather than of getting.

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