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Thanks for being able to give
Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column November 26, 2024.
I felt utterly exhausted and was hoping to nap before continuing with my second nonprofit event of the day, but I couldn’t get my thoughts to quiet down. “Has anyone really appreciated all the labor and out-of-pocket expense this is costing me? Is there a simpler way to do things? Have I taken on more than I can bear?”
Then cutting across this barrage of negativity came the strong message, “Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years” (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 60). I recognized this as part of a By-Law from the slim volume of guidance Mary Baker Eddy gave her church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, to help its members stay in the letter and the spirit of love for God and their fellow man. While I am well familiar with this By-Law, this time it came with new force, as if saying “every moment of every day of all the years.”
It struck me that stricter obedience to this divinely inspired idea would help lift me out of this malaise, as I’ve experienced in the past. So, I began to be grateful that I could give, realizing what a privilege it is to serve others, how precious each one we work with is, and how the perfect support for our worthy undertakings comes forth from God. Within 15 minutes I got up feeling refreshed, energized, and able to answer a call for help that had just come in.
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