Article November 19, 1966 Issue

The Power of Gratitude

MARGARET C. DU VALL

Gratitude is not seasonal; it is not a human instinct to be aroused on occasion by appeals to personal sense. Gratitude is not human emotionalism; it is not a conditional human virtue. Gratitude is the activating spiritual element of joy.

In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years." ^{Man., Art. XVII, Sect. 2;} Gratitude is not something to be held in reserve for special showing at prearranged times. Gratitude springs from the understanding that God and man coexist and are coeternal.

Daniel's continual daily prayer of "thanks before his God" ^{Dan. 6:10;} was gratitude so powerful that it subdued the enmity of the carnal mind and freed Daniel from the threat of death in the lions' den. In expression of his own gratitude for the deliverance of his friend, Darius the king officially decreed that all the subjects of his kingdom recognize and serve "the living God," ^{v. 26;} the God who had prospered Daniel.