Article November 20, 1995 Issue

Gratitude ... what a word!

Norman H. Schaper

Have you ever heard the story of the person who said to the wood stove, "Give me some heat and then I will feed you some wood"? We all know we must first build the fire, and then the stove will produce the desired heat. Gratitude is a bit like this. When we are "fueled" with gratitude, we experience all kinds of good.

Mary Baker Eddy brings this out in her book Science and Health. She writes: "Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more" (p. 3). So it is important for us to get in the habit of being grateful for even the little things in life because this outlook keeps us ready to see and to do good no matter where we are.

Throughout his ministry, Christ Jesus taught his followers to look for the good in their experience. He made clear, however, that good comes to us by looking at life in spiritual, not material, terms. For example, he told them: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:31–33). His total reliance on God at times when several thousand people needed to be fed proved that his teachings were practical. They were not just pleasant theories.

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