True Gratitude

JULIA K. DE WOLF

A Member of The Mother Church and also of one of its branches, while listening one Wednesday evening to the notices read from the desk, was reminded of the time when she was a nonmember and had listened to the notice regarding applications for church membership. For some time she had not realized the importance or need of church membership. This may have been because she was already getting so much good from her study of Christian Science and from church attendance. Her little daughter was being taught in the Christian Science Sunday School, and there had been several remarkable healings in the home, some through the loving work of a Christian Science practitioner, others through her own understanding of Truth. For all this she thought she was grateful. Not until two members of her family were rescued from what threatened to result in death was she awakened to the necessity of doing something to prove her gratitude to God for Christian Science.

From the Bible these words came to her (Matt. 5:16): "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." As she pondered Jesus' appeal, she realized that to be obedient to it she must place herself in a position where she could be of service to the Cause of Christian Science. This she knew meant church membership. So she prepared herself for this important step by becoming familiar with the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy and with her other writings, applying and putting into practice the truths they contained. She then took steps to become a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist feeling that she was being God-directed.

Since then the blessings received have been far greater than can ever be repaid, for they have included spiritual growth and unfoldment. Uniting with the Christian Science organization did not mean the elimination of problems to solve. But many helpful lessons have been learned in loyalty and steadfastness.

One lesson for which she has been most grateful was learned through a healing of her daughter. The child, who was very ill with an ear difficulty, was examined at the request of one member of the family by an ear specialist. After examining the patient, the physician told the mother that the child was very ill and that because the mastoid was infected she could not possibly live without an operation. This alarming verdict aroused the mother, who rose in the strength of Spirit and turned humbly and absolutely to God for guidance. A Christian Science practitioner was asked to take up the work, and in three weeks the child was perfectly healed.

Through this experience the mother learned that when the healing is slow and thought is centered on the healing alone, one oftentimes opens his mental door to discouragement. But she found that when thought is less on the problem and more on the desire for a better understanding of God and of the teachings of Christian Science, the door is closed to discouragement and open to Truth and Love and gratitude for the opportunity to prove God's allness and the unreality of error.

How grateful Christian Scientists are to Mrs. Eddy for the activities of church organization, which afford them an opportunity to experience the joy and blessings of giving as well as receiving. They are also grateful to the many faithful workers in the Field who are engaged in the healing work, and so are preventing the Christ Science from ever being lost or hidden from the world again. Lost it cannot be if Christian Scientists unite in proving their gratitude by willing obedience to the admonition of our dear Leader in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she writes (p. 3): "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. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Again on page 174 she states, "Whoever opens the way in Christian Science is a pilgrim and stranger, marking out the path for generations yet unborn."

These statements disclose what the awakened thought of gratitude and obedience will achieve. The continuous course of God's divine law of right activity cannot be measured in terms of time, but of opportunity, unfoldment, and progress. Thus the active Christian Scientist in his progress Spiritward finds with joy that each day is a day of opportunity and unfoldment of good, and his prayer is in harmony with that of our beloved Leader (Poems, p.13):

"My prayer, some daily good to do To Thine, for Thee;
An offering pure of Love, whereto God leadeth me."

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