WHETHER we know it or not, all true Christian Scientists carry the cross. This cross is heavy or light according to the cushion of gratitude upon which it rests. Gratitude has a buoyancy which will lift any burden from the shoulder, so that we may, as the hymn reads, "bear a song away."
If there is a burden which seems intolerable, it is because gratitude is not utilized to ease that burden; and gratitude may be so demonstrated that no problem can bear down upon the student of Christian Science with a false sense of reality. Evil seems to have a weight because it is not met with the antidote of spiritual sense, which never loses sight of one of its inherent qualities, gratitude.
There is a temptation which attempts to mesmerize earnest thinkers, inviting them to believe that they have nothing for which to be grateful. And should this erring sense present itself, we must give pause and count our blessings. To any student who is at all doubtful of the necessity for gratitude, the good news of the Christ-teaching may come, and awaken him from looking into matter for his well-being. Materiality always disappoints; it cannot do otherwise, for it holds as its substance only the texture of fancy.
