Editorial November 25, 2013 ISSUE

Pre-gratitude

The Editors

To be grateful for something even before it’s in your view—to be “pre-grateful”—can be quite an inspiring and effective approach to prayer. 

It’s not all that new of an approach, but it certainly is a very good one. By example, Jesus taught people about pre-gratitude and how to express it. When standing in front of his friend Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus gave thanks to God, even though the body of Lazarus was still inside the tomb, wrapped in graveclothes (see John 11:41, 42 ). Jesus was praying by being grateful for something unseen: that God is the only real presence and, no matter what, God was truly the Life of his friend. What happened next? “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44 ).

Jesus was praying by being grateful for something unseen.

There are some wonderful spiritual components about existence that don’t always seem obvious, yet they really are the most substantial things a person connects with each day. You’ve just read here in the Sentinel about several such instances. Gratitude for what isn’t obvious—or even presently perceived at all—connects you in a tangible way with the substance and goodness of God, and is fertile ground for healing. 

Why not take a few moments here and now just to be pre-grateful for blessings? Not using your eyes, nose, or sense of touch, but a deeper sense of things that you feel in your heart, you can’t help but become so thankful the moment you embrace spiritual facts, such as:

  • God is divine Love. Divine Love is perfectly present and intact, and it is impossible for you to be separated from Love. Your continuing existence is a result of Love in action.
  • God is your Father-Mother, your best friend, your cause, and your source of both opportunity and ability.
  • Every aspect of God is beautiful and powerful, and you continuously are a transparency for God’s nature and essence.

It’s natural to love and be grateful for God and God’s goodness, even prior to a complete understanding. “The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love,” observes Mary Baker Eddy in her insightful book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 265 ).

If Jesus met you, he certainly would behold the perfect, present creation of God, divine Love, that you always are. No doubt, he would feel thankful for it, too, even if it didn’t appear to everyone in an obvious way! Following his example, why not commit to doing the same? You are the creation of God even before you start to pray, and it’s natural to be thankful for this. Pre-gratitude is gratitude that heals.

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