Editorial November 20, 1954 Issue

GRATITUDE THAT CANCELS ACCOUNTS

Helen Wood Bauman

Mary Baker Eddy once wrote to the members of her Church (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 131), "May God give unto us all that loving sense of gratitude which delights in the opportunity to cancel accounts." Perhaps David had come to the same conclusion concerning gratitude when he sang (Ps. 26:6, 7), "I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works." And a little further on he continued, "I will walk in mine integrity."

Both our Leader and the bard of the Hebrews saw that gratitude is more than words can express. It calls for integrity which cancels accounts. The great account we need to cancel is that with our Maker, our debt of gratitude for the perfection which Christian Science reveals as the heritage of every individual. We cancel this account only as we express the innocence of character and perfection of experience which belong to the sons of God. And this we can do with joy, thankfully putting off the sins of mortality and the sufferings of the finite sense on the basis that they are unreal and no part of man. Our sheer gratitude for the facts of being as Christian Science reveals them helps us to separate our sense of self from the flesh with its sins and problems.

We need not wait for the full appearing of perfection before expressing gratitude for it. We know perfection is here, for Christ Jesus proved the true man and the kingdom in which he lives to be present, though unseen by the physical senses. The acknowledgment of our changeless perfection as actually God's image makes it natural for us to detect faults and fears and ignorant beliefs, as well as evidences of ingratitude, which need to be destroyed in canceling our account with God.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

GRATITUDE THAT CANCELS ACCOUNTS

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access