Students of Christian Science around the world are preparing to study the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly this month and participate in corresponding church services. As we celebrate in this way, we are putting gratitude into action, thereby opening the door of thought to good, which is a consciousness of God.
I learned a lesson in gratitude recently when plans to move to a new house were unexpectedly altered at the last moment. I was all set to go when the purchase fell through two weeks before Christmas, and I had only four weeks to find somewhere else to live.
My eldest son and his wife generously offered me a space in their home. Although I was so grateful to have had this loving answer to my urgent need, on my first day there I felt very upset and misplaced. I had come from a spacious, quiet home to a tiny apartment on the lower level of a larger house with a regular train service running nearby. Happily, my sad state of thought did not last too long!
I lived in that little apartment for seven months, and apart from those first few days, I did not struggle with the noise or small space; there were always solutions that enabled me to overcome limitations. The time spent there was actually filled with joy, and I grew to appreciate that this arrangement gave me freedom to work in my new role as a Christian Science teacher. My daily living costs were reduced substantially, which helped me prepare for my next move. Overall, it was a period filled with blessings.
Not many days after I moved into that home, I was divinely prompted to be grateful. This was not just a simple giving of thanks for having a home, but an urging to really come to know that God directs us to our right place. I had been questioning why arrangements for the other home I had planned to move to had fallen through. I realized I needed to be grateful that God, who is all good, governs every aspect of our lives, and therefore good must be present.
Ingratitude fails to appreciate what God is already giving.
Gratitude is a pure recognition of the ever-presence of God and God’s free and impartial bestowal of good, despite human perceptions. Expressing gratitude is a conscious acknowledgment of the presence of goodness; it’s a receptive attitude that opens the door for even more blessings. Ingratitude, on the other hand, fails to appreciate what God is already giving. Unhappiness, doubt, and fear overlook God’s omnipresence and omnipotence, and therefore prevent us from feeling joy and seeing solutions that come from divine Love.
I could not have asked for more love from those who had so generously opened their home to accommodate me, and yet there I was feeling sorry for myself. Had I not challenged this mental state, I would have continued to see only limits (the cramped space, the noise) rather than the abundance of good at hand (the efficient use of space, the time and space for healing work). When I moved again months later, the place that I moved to proved to be a lovely fit, one far better than I’d originally planned.
Of course, it is easy to give thanks when all is well. But when times are tough, it’s so helpful to have a deeper understanding that God—Life, Truth, and Love—is the source of all good. When we thoroughly acknowledge this, we are able to sincerely give thanks even when things don’t seem so favorable. Standing firm in thanking God for His blessings, regardless of the circumstances we’re facing, challenges the notion that there could be a power to oppose God. It silences the belief that there can be anything else but God, good, and this reorientation of thought brings adjustment and healing. Admitting the true source of ever-present good and expressing peace and joy through difficult times are the definition of gratitude in action!
Christ Jesus gave thanks to God and then fed five thousand with only a few loaves and fishes. The situation indicated lack on a grand scale, and yet even after the crowd had eaten, many baskets of food were gathered up. Certainly Jesus’ clear apprehension of our Father’s abundant love was present before this bountiful supply became evident to those around him. As Jesus’ followers, we are capable of emulating him and can be less doubtful of the divine blessings that are already here.
By knowing God as the giver of all good, we are “fitted” to receive an abundance of blessings.
In teaching his disciples about effective prayer, Jesus spoke of the need to recognize God’s supreme readiness to give good freely (see Matthew 7:11). And in the chapter titled “Prayer” in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more” (p. 3). On that same page and the next, she goes on to explain that gratitude must be expressed in action, and that giving thanks while feeling ungrateful is hypocritical and will result in our feeling unfulfilled.
The Apostle Paul, unsure whether he would be executed or released while under house arrest in Rome, expressed this standard of gratitude in a letter to the Philippians: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7, New Living Translation).
God is unerring, unchanging, impartial, universal, and eternal Love. This understanding surpasses the mortal comprehension of love and provides a rock-solid foundation that enables us to remain unmoved when faced with discord, limitation, or lack. By knowing God as the giver of all good, we are “fitted” to receive an abundance of blessings. Our prayer of gratitude then flows freely, and we are able to better recognize the harmony of our true being as the reflection of God, good.
