Doesn't gratitude come at the end with the healing?

Our son, now 21, had been struggling for some time following the completion of high school.  He bounced from job to job, unable to retain employment for very long.  He often complained about his employment situation, and nothing seemed to please him.  To human sense it seemed as if he lacked motivation for self- improvement and was, instead, satisfied with just getting along.  We gave him all the “normal” human incentives to encourage improvement.  But, it seemed he was immune to these efforts. 

Realizing that this situation needed to be addressed at a higher level, my wife and I began an earnest program of daily prayer on his behalf.  It should be noted that our son had grown up in the Christian Science Sunday school and had attended a Christian Science summer camp.  We were specifically grateful in thinking about this fact.  I recalled your Class instruction that it was often appropriate, even necessary, to begin a treatment with gratitude.  I remember thinking at the time that this seemed counter intuitive. Doesn’t gratitude come at the end with the healing?  It became very clear to us that we had been approaching this healing differently than we might if it was a physical challenge.  We seemed to be recognizing the reality of the problem, and looking for a way around it.  And, so, from that point on, we focused on our gratitude for our son’s firm grounding in Christian Science and his willingness to allow us to treat him in Christian Science.  Very soon, what had been a routine argument when we saw each other changed into our expression of gratitude and, not surprisingly, his soon verbally expressed gratitude for his upbringing and the love of his family.  Along the way, the healing manifested itself in a healing of what had been a caustic relationship with his sister.  Up until that point, there had been mutual resentment between these siblings.  Now, the resentment melted into hugs, and friendly conversation and activity. 

As things progressed, my wife and I held to the idea that motivation was not a human quality, but was impelled spiritually in each of us (maybe in different ways) and its source was God alone.  Over the next few weeks and months our son obtained a new job and what was formerly complaints about work, turned into joy and eagerness.  He often now expresses an appreciation for his co-workers and, significantly, his superiors (who had previously – he thought – had been the source of his problem).  We have come to learn that our son’s “success” is not measured financially, but in the qualities he has learned and expresses.  He has transitioned to living on his own with a roommate.  We anticipate continued progress.