Article November 21, 1994 Issue

The use and misuse of gratitude

Beulah M. Roegge

Gratitude acknowledges good received. It confirms our receptivity to good. It keeps the door open to that which enriches our lives and enhances our contribution toward making the world a better place.

Yet gratitude, like prayer, may be misused. A Biblical statement points out, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). Being thankful merely for that which is consumable, that which is not eternal, therefore not spiritual, could be said to be thanking amiss.

Mary Baker Eddy, in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, leads her readers to a more spiritual expression of gratitude: "If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are insincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites" (p. 3). Allowing gratitude for Life, Truth, and Love, to lift one above the conventional trap of thanks for material goods can create a genuine feeling of appreciation for whatever is truly good and of God. Of course, this good can be evident tangibly in the form of a needed home, clothing, transportation, and so forth. Genuine gratitude can so permeate the holiday season that our joy is maintained.

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