I have long had an urge to write of the gratitude I feel for Christian Science, but because the establishment of health, happiness, and financial competence has come so naturally into my experience, there seems little to relate except the gradual but steady spiritual progress that has been mine through the consecrated, though often stumbling, practice of its truths as they have been unfolded. Nonetheless, and perhaps because of this continuous growth, my gratitude has deepened into that which cannot easily be translated into words without seeming uneventful and commonplace. However, one's gratitude should be expressed. General lack of vitality, migraine, chronic tonsillitis, and what appeared to be tuberculosis of the throat disappeared somewhere along the way, much as the barnacles drop from a ship anchored in fresh water. False landmarks gave place to higher levels of thought, and disease vanished.
There have been persecutions, misunderstandings, and antagonisms to meet, as well as many crucial decisions to be made. I had learned from a very wise parent long before I knew of Christian Science that no wrong condition or element of human nature could hurt me unless I indulged it myself, and, of course, Christian Science fully corroborates and emphasizes this fact.
For the privilege of being a Christian Scientist and for the strict demands it makes upon one, I am most grateful. My human experience has become enriched and has been made extremely interesting. Happiness, which Mrs. Eddy tells us must be sought in Soul, has become a continuous state of consciousness. Mrs. Eddy's revelation of Church causes me constantly to stand in reverent awe and wonderment, and the true meaning of Church grows daily clearer to me. "A Rule for Motives and Acts" (Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy, Art. VIII, Sect. 1) first impressed me in my study of the Manual, and my gratitude for it alone is measureless.
