You are up late, working in the kitchen. Suddenly the lights go out and your home is pitch-black. Can you begin to find your way to where the flashlights are stored for just such an emergency? Probably so, because you know the contours of the counters and cupboards as you make your way to the drawer where the needed supplies can be found.
Isn’t this very much one of the roles of gratitude—the kind of gratitude that Christ Jesus taught? When a physical ailment or even death threw individuals into darkness, Jesus acknowledged God’s healing power before the blessing was seen by all (see John 11:41–44, for example). He knew the contours of spiritual reality right where the darkness seemed to be. So it was natural for him to give thanks for that which was, because of the ever-presence of God, good; and this spiritual understanding brought healing.
Some years ago I seemed to be stuck in the dark. My back was painful all the time; it didn’t seem to matter my position, be it sitting, standing, or lying down. One morning as I lay on the floor trying to find comfort, I put my hand up to the middle of my back, and it felt as if something was missing or out of alignment. Now, not only was I in the darkness of pain, but fear gripped me as well.
Little did I know these profound lessons about gratitude and joy would come to my rescue.
For months I had been praying for healing with the help of a Christian Science practitioner, seeking to better understand my closeness to God, the great I am spoken of in the Bible. I’d been praying to know that I was God’s own expression, whole and healthy. However, very little improvement was evident.
Funny, though, that morning when I called the Christian Science practitioner to share my discomfort and fears as well as my prayers, she listened calmly and said, as she had on other occasions, “Well, how is your gratitude and joy?” I didn’t say what I was thinking: “My gratitude and joy are so low they’re practically in the basement.” Instead, my answer to this Christian healer, who I knew loved me dearly, was simply that they were “OK,” and soon our conversation ended.
Honestly, at that moment, I didn’t have a clue how to be more grateful, and surely not more joyous. Then the phrase, “the gift of gratitude,” came to thought. Here it is, in the first verse of Hymn 146 in the Christian Science Hymnal:
In God I find a precious gift
That knows no fear, no feud,
That glows so still, serene and pure:
The gift of gratitude.
(Violet Ker Seymer, No. 146, © CSBD)
That was it! Gratitude is a forever gift. No wonder I was having such a hard time trying to be grateful, trying to “manufacture” gratitude, and doing the same with joy. Of course! I could be grateful even in the midst of fear and pain, because joy and gratitude infused my being as God’s child and were a natural spiritual expression of Him. The hymn goes on to detail what gratitude does:
It brightens all the paths of earth,
Reflecting Truth and right,
For gratitude doth steadfastly
Abide in heavenly light.
This gift of gratitude brings to light man’s natural ability to perceive the spiritual perfection already present, thus putting aside a false sense of self with its theories and opinions. Gratitude helps us to really love perfect God and His perfect creation, which is already here. The following is a vital point in prayer: “... an acknowledgment of the perfection of the infinite Unseen confers a power nothing else can” (Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good, p. 7). This is something Mrs. Eddy learned, practiced, and taught. In my case, accepting and applying the gift of gratitude was the beginning of a significant, complete healing. Truly, being grateful is “an acknowledgment of the perfection of the infinite Unseen.”
Whatever tricks the darkness seemed to present, God-impelled gratitude came right along to usher in the light.
Little did I know these profound lessons about gratitude and joy would come to my rescue years later. But first, before we get there, here is a line from a beautiful letter written in 1908 to Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of the Science of Christianity, by the ushers of The Mother Church: “We are prompted to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to you for your life of spirituality, with its years of tender ministry, yet we know that the real gratitude is what is proved in better lives” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 352).
This speaks of another aspect of true gratitude that is far more than words: It becomes manifest in healing works, and in showing forth all we know of God in “better lives.” To us as world citizens, there can seem to be such a sense of peril and darkness everywhere we turn. Sometimes it can feel easy to get caught up in that darkness by trying to quantify it or qualify it, giving opinions about it, or even despairing about it; and yet this attitude might ultimately cause us to abandon gratitude and joy all together—our precious gifts.
It does take courage to search for solutions when the lights go out, but Spirit-impelled gratitude shows us the contours of good, of divine Love, already present. We know the power of gratitude for what it reveals of God’s creation right here and now, and we know and instinctively feel the ingratitude and folly of settling into self-defeating darkness.
As for my rescue a couple of years ago, it was a rescue from grief. A very dear friend, with whom I shared a home, and who had become like a sister to me, passed on. I had no idea how hard that would be. From time to time I would begin weeping uncontrollably in moments that sort of snuck up on me. With a clear sense of the eternality of Life—of God, who creates and sustains us—I had no doubt that my friend’s life continued, but I missed her a lot. In helping to care for her estate, there was detail upon detail I knew nothing about, but they all needed to be cared for correctly.
It was then that gratitude and joy pressed in upon me. Every time the darkness of grief threatened to engulf me, I found myself saying—and sometimes out loud—whatever it was I was grateful for at that moment. Sometimes it was simply, “I am so grateful, God, that You are here as ever-present Love. That is something I know and can feel.” Other times the gratitude that came to thought was, “I will always be grateful for my dear friend, and that the wonderful qualities she expressed are always present and can never be absent from my life.” Whatever tricks the darkness seemed to present, God-impelled gratitude came right along to usher in the light. Just when something was needed—help, companionship, consolation, or a deeper sense of God’s lovingkindness—it came readily to hand. The gifts of gratitude and joy opened my eyes to the tremendous goodness right around me.
My complete healing and freedom did not come overnight, but steadily God’s love broke through that mesmeric sense of loss and emptiness. Today I am so grateful to be left with greater conviction than ever that the source of all good for each of God’s children is the Divine itself; divine Mind, divine Spirit, divine Truth, present right where man, His expression, is. Gratitude and joy help to reveal these glorious facts—the contours of good that lead us to the light.
