THANKFULNESS is necessary to a man's spiritual growth. To be thankful is to be thoughtful. Thankfulness is open to kindness, and honest in acknowledgement; it is expansion from coldness to affection; it is development from selfishness to sympathy; it is peace to the troubled heart; it is brotherly love to a friend; it is forgiveness to an enemy; it is radiation of good will; it is companion to good cheer; it is contentment with gain; it is a condition of mind that may be cultivated at any period of a person's life. To be thankful is to be just to God and to our fellow-men, and without this virtue we are neither sensible nor religious.
Unselfishness is indispensable to happiness. A thankful man is never selfish. He has been awakened from self-centered thanklessness and looks out a new man upon a new world. The grass is greener, the sunshine brighter, the bird sings more sweetly, and his neighbor is lovelier. He beholds fresh beauties in earth and sky and sea, all of which, by color, form, and song, return thanks to the Giver of all good gifts. Just as the pansy blossoms must be plucked to insure a continuance of bloom in abundance and perfection, so we must give out gratitude and render thanks to God, if we would enrich character.
The first lesson we learn from the perfect man Jesus is to be thankful to God for all blessings, and this is expressed in action. Jesus left an example for us when, upon the safe and successful return of the seventy, he said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." When about to call Lazarus from the grave he thanked God in these words: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou has sent me." And again, as the time of the betrayal drew near, "he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." This beautiful refrain of thankfulness, as from a grateful child to his parent, is heard throughout the Master's life.
