Editorial November 22, 1947 Issue

PERPETUAL THANKSGIVING

L. Ivimy Gwalter

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands .... Come before his presence with singing .... Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name" (Ps. 100:1, 2,4).

From ancient times the importance of acknowledging God as the source of all good has been recognized: the Israelites had their thank offerings, the Psalmist refers to the sacrifice of thanksgiving. The Master repeatedly gave thanks, and Paul said (Col. 3:15), "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

Now, thanksgiving is more than lip service. An assertion of gratitude while the heart is filled with hatred, resentment, dissatisfaction, doubt, or fear is far from real thanksgiving. Gratitude ever reaches beyond the vacillations of material sense testimony and abides in perpetual acknowledgment of the spiritual fact. In Science the acknowledgment of good is the demonstration of good. What healing and transformation we should witness if the whole world were to send up a paean of praise to the Giver of all good, and were to abide in the acknowledgment that nothing but what expresses God, good, is real, or ever has been real! How the scars of war, the smart of hate, and the devastation of lack would disappear! With what tenderness and beauty the wilderness of human experience would burst into bloom, and with what spiritual fragrance earth's mental atmosphere would be cleansed!

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