When I was a young boy and acting pouty, my mom would always remind me how much I had to be grateful for and ask me to list a few things. I’m not sure which I liked hearing less: “What are you grateful for?” or “Eat your vegetables!” I didn’t want to be grateful. I wanted to sulk and complain. Plus, I thought I first had to have something, or things needed to go my way, before I could be thankful: I’ll be grateful when . . . I get my way, my body feels better, or it’s Thanksgiving and we’re all being grateful.
In growing up and learning more about God and His law of universal good, I came to realize that gratitude always comes first! Gratitude is a game changer. It’s not just positive thinking or looking on the bright side. Gratitude is a transformative force that plays a vital role in healing because it is the affirmation of already-present health, harmony, and goodness from God. It is the way of seeing spiritual harmony, sometimes right when there seems to be a disturbed sense of ease, or dis-ease.
The consciousness of the ever-presence of God results in healing. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints” (p. 14).
