The book of Luke in the Bible reports that ten individuals with leprosy asked for help from Jesus, who had been demonstrating the healing power that accompanies an understanding of God. He cured all ten of them (see Luke 17:11–19). But only one of the ten returned to thank him. That is, all ten were blessed, but only one acknowledged the blessing.
What did the one who returned gain that the others lost? In other words, what difference does it make if we express gratitude for the good we receive? The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, answers that question with this simple passage: “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” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 3).
Nine of the lepers took the blessing they’d received and walked away, uninterested in what had healed them. By returning, the one who gave thanks showed that his gaze had been turned heavenward, toward Principle, God, the very source of all healing. The other nine lepers were like miners panning for gold in a stream. They were healed—they found some flakes and nuggets that had been carried downstream from their source. But the grateful one wasn’t satisfied sifting through the mud to see what scraps he could find. He turned to the source itself, the vein from which the gold flakes, the healing, had come.
