"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you," commanded Paul in a letter to a small band of converts living in what is now Saloniki, Greece. "Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good," the apostle continued (I Thess. 5: 18-21).
The tenor of the exhortation indicates that there were difficulties within this little group of Jews and Greeks who eventually would be called Christians. Apparently they were undergoing what students of Christian Science often call a testing time —a period in human experience when we must prove that what we know is true; when it is necessary that we clean out the suggestions which have slipped past our guard, and when we must fill our consciousness with good so that not only we but all with whom we come in contact may plainly see the evidence of Truth and Love working in our affairs.
Throughout her writings, Mrs. Eddy refers to gratitude, or the giving of thanks, in ways which establish this quality as vital to the demonstration of Christian Science healing. In the chapter of Science and Health entitled "Glossary," she gives gratitude as one of the synonyms for tithe (p. 595). Being grateful for the trial which proves God's care and being joyfully expectant of the immediate right solution to whatever seems to be a problem, most certainly provide a firm foundation for the metaphysical work which follows.
