It seems fitting that I should express my gratitude for the many benefits the study of Christian Science has brought and is bringing to me. I am especially grateful that our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gave us such a plain and concise "Rule for Motives and Acts" (Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 1) and ordained that it should be read at the regular church service on the first Sunday of each month. It comes to me more and more clearly that the observance of this one rule by Christian Scientists would heal every discord in human relationships, and in contemplation of this truth I learned two helpful lessons.
The first lesson was a better understanding of what gratitude is. I saw that it was the natural and necessary outcome of a truth recognized and realized, and that they could not be separated any more than could fragrance from flowers. It had only to be seen and realized. In teaching, the realization of this fact has been of great help, for it taught me that my work was simply to reflect the truth clearly and to expect that it would do its work in each receptive thought. I have found that appreciation may be shown in a variety of ways not perceived before;for what is thought to be gratitude is too often but "a lively sense of the possibility of future favors."
A second lesson for which I am grateful was learned in searching my own thought to see the relationship between truth recognized and gratitude. I had often said that I did not come to the study of Christian Science through healing, but I found that I did; that every bit of truth realized has brought its healing, as in the very nature of the case it must. The very first willingness to listen receptively to Christian Science, coming through the lips of a child of about five years of age, overcame a belief in pride of intellect and compelled me to remove the shoes from off my feet, to separate the hidebound coating of intellectuality from spiritual understanding and know that the place whereon I stood was "holy ground."
