Autumn, when crops are harvested, is traditionally a time of thanksgiving in many cultures. For instance, Sukkot, commemorating the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to their Promised Land, celebrates the way in which God protected them in difficult conditions. And believers and non-believers alike in Canada and the United States celebrate their annual Thanksgiving Day. Gratitude is always a valuable quality, and daily expressions of thankfulness bring a calming, strengthening sense of the grace of Spirit, God.
This year, this season, many of us across the world could be forgiven for asking some hard questions. Is it even possible to be grateful after the struggles we’ve had around the globe? What if fears and uncertainties, or even apathy, convince us that we haven’t got much to feel thankful about?
As a student of Christian Science, I’ve found turning to the Bible unfailingly gives answers to our cries for comfort. The book of Isaiah reassures us: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2, New Living Translation). This promise of God’s deliverance opens our thoughts to the possibility and presence of great good. It fosters gratitude for divine Love’s saving and healing capacity, and hope companions this thankfulness.
Christ Jesus deeply understood his Father-Mother God’s care for all, and this enabled him more than once to express gratitude before the full results of his prayer were obvious. Take for example his multiplying of the loaves and fishes and his raising of Lazarus from death (see Matthew 14:15–21and John 11:1–46).
In our search for gratitude we can take a lesson from the master Christian. We don’t just aim to be grateful for things, people, or events in our lives (though that’s a good start); we dig deeper. Being so thankful that God is All and is unchanging good, and is forwarding good in our lives, fosters healing. It’s a recognition, maybe even in just small glimpses, of God’s continuing presence and power right here at this moment, and therefore the powerlessness and illusory nature of evil become clearer. Our true spiritual identity, as the reflection or image of God as the Bible tells us we are, shines through.
Some years ago, when facing both work-related and physical challenges, including moments of extreme panic, I wasn’t feeling grateful at all! I found myself feeling increasingly desperate and separated from God.
Being able to give thanks to God just for being God was so freeing.
I’d been praying for some months with the help of a Christian Science practitioner. At one point, when I was feeling particularly overwrought, it seemed life would never become “normal” again. And yet, the deep prayers of that dear practitioner and my own constant turning to God gradually brought me to a place of sincere gratitude for God’s unwavering love for me.
Even in my worst moments, I was able to feel a deep gratitude that God, Truth, was right with me and loved me. I often handled rumination or analysis of the problem by affirming, “My thought is filled with what Truth is telling me.”
Increasingly, I could feel that each moment God was already here and I was at one with Him right then. Every moment God was supplying exactly what I needed to know; I was safe.
Also, being able to give thanks to God just for being God was so freeing. I didn’t need to “hold” God in my thought—it was the other way around! Giving thanks for the healing demonstration that was inevitable brightened my outlook.
Equipped with this spiritual understanding, I was enabled to see past what seemed a continuing cycle of fear and symptoms. And so I could say, with the Apostle Paul, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57).
At one point it felt right to move on to new pastures career-wise, and I was able to prepare colleagues to take over the work before I left amicably. Full healing of each challenge came, and a sense of quiet peace returned and remains.
I’ve found that when we actively decide to look for examples of grace in our day, we can’t help feeling a deepening appreciation and love for our caring Father-Mother. As we come to acknowledge even the smallest evidences of God’s care surrounding us, we better understand what Mary Baker Eddy reveals of divine Love. Her main work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, says: “The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough!” (p. 520). This expansive sense of Love’s powerful care naturally brings us to a place of deep gratitude.
Gratitude isn’t a passive, nebulous feeling. In order to know the peace and joy that accompany the grace of gratitude, we need to be actively expressing it. The Old Testament records a requirement to express joy at the Jewish Sukkot celebration of God’s care (see Deuteronomy 16:13–15), and the writer of First Chronicles records of the priests worshiping God, “Each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to him” (23:30, NLT). It’s an important reminder for me to actively thank God in prayer regularly, be it daily or hourly!
One definition of gratitude includes “readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness” (Oxford Languages on Google), and Mrs. Eddy expresses it this way in her writings: “To love, and to be loved, one must do good to others. The inevitable condition whereby to become blessed, is to bless others: but here, you must so know yourself, under God’s direction, that you will do His will even though your pearls be downtrodden” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 127). So, our expression of gratitude isn’t purely in moments of quiet prayer but needs to be evidenced in daily life—in action, rather than simply remaining as thankful words.
We will all find different ways to show our gratitude, whether it’s through church work, volunteering for a charity, minding a friend’s pets for the day, or praying for another in need. Our gratitude is rewarded with God-given peace and joy.
What if we’ve found ourselves feeling ungrateful? Isn’t this just fear or ignorant belief that argues that God is incapable of meeting our needs? Expressing gratitude toward God in the face of such suggestions actually helps lift us out of despair. And when we encounter ingratitude from family, friends, or colleagues, we can cherish thanksgiving as a spiritual quality freely and immediately available to all. Gratitude is a spiritual capacity, a God-given ability, always within our consciousness because it reflects God’s loving appreciation of His children.
I love how the Greek word charis, often translated grace, used in the New Testament is closely associated with the word for thanksgiving, eucharistos. Paul was keenly aware of this grace of gratitude. His letters acknowledge God’s gift of grace as sufficient to meet all needs, enriching us so that we lack nothing. He writes this to the Colossians regarding Christ: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (2:7, NLT).
To be thankful, then, isn’t really an option! It’s our natural response to God’s unfailing goodness. It’s our reflection of God’s appreciation and deep joy for each of us. It wells up in us, restoring inspiration and hope when we most need it. It encourages expectancy and acknowledges fulfillment of God’s promises. Gratitude is a faithful friend.
Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay thy vows unto the most High.
—Psalms 50:14
