Is gratitude like the frosting on a cake? Is it an added something that improves some aspect of our disposition, making us seem a bit sweeter, or is it a vital, active ingredient in our lives? True gratitude is not only essential to health and happiness; it has a leavening effect on our total experience.
Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Science and Health, p. 3; Obviously this is true in everyday life. When a friend gives us a useful gift, for example, our gratitude is apparent not solely in our thanks but in the use we make of the gift. Christian Science enables us to recognize and employ the gifts God has given every one of us. To acknowledge and use them is true gratitude, and this transforms our lives.
The Bible speaks of these gifts. James writes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17; Most people tend to think of these gifts as material things, and regard even health and happiness as special blessings bestowed on favored mortals—mortals who are bound by material laws.
