Article November 2, 1946 Issue

Thank You, Father

HELENOR BOARDMAN

We respond naturally and spontaneously to the generous thoughtfulness or aid of a friend with a fervent and courteous "Thank you." But as we grow to an appreciation that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof" (Ps. 24:1), we realize that what calls forth our gratitude for expressions of unselfed good is something deeper than the etiquette of a social convention. To be truly sincere, our thanks must be the acknowledgment of nothing less than an angel of God revealing to us some fresh glimpse of Love's goodness. It is our privilege to respond to these unfoldments of reality—inwardly, if not audibly—with a heartfelt "Thank You, Father!"

Jesus always recognized and responded to the daily, indeed to the momentary, manifestations of his Father's unfailing goodness and loving care. At the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead, before the latter came forth from the sepulcher, Jesus lifted up his heart in grateful understanding of his Father's all-presence and power, and said (John 11:41,42): "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." Nothing escaped his unselfed, grateful, spiritual sensitivity, by means of which he felt and met the human needs of all those who came to him or followed him. It was the fulfillment of his own ideal when, after he had revealed God's presence and purpose in works of salvation, healing, and reform, the people "glorified the God of Israel."

Christian Science has come into the world to lead men back to the practical teaching of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels; to the understanding of the unchanging, loving, and perfect nature of God, which Jesus in his life-mission so consistently and practically revealed and glorified. In that great textbook of Christian education and emancipation, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, occurs this passage: "When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle."

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