Editorial February 21, 1925 Issue

Expectation

Ella W. Hoag

"WHEN the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress." So writes Mrs. Eddy on page 426 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." And who has not proved the truth of this statement times without number? Looking back to earliest childhood one easily recalls constantly recurring instances, when, with some hoped-for goal in sight, one has found himself speeding towards it because of the expectation of some good to be thus won. Expectation always includes some ground or reason for believing that certain events will occur, and in proportion as the prospect is pleasing and desirable is one's progress toward it accelerated.

Without expectation human effort would be both purposeless and colorless. Expectancy of good presents hope in the midst of seeming despair, encouraging one to press forward to the overcoming of obstacles which might otherwise seem insurmountable. Always, then, there must be hope of good to come if there is to be proper advancement in any right direction. And where alone can real good be found? Where, except in God, the source and substance of all good! The Psalmist sang, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him."

Christian Science, while it teaches the necessity of right expectation, also joins with the Psalmist in indicating that all true expectation is from God. Only as one's hopes are centered in the operation of God's law of love can they ever bring forth right fruition. As it is realized that God's will includes all that is true and good; that it involves the necessary expression of all loveliness and perfection; indeed, that in it alone can be found all that is Godlike and glorious, one sees that to have his expectation placed in God is to be on the way to winning all that is desirable. At the same time there is revealed the foolishness of looking anywhere else for any good.

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The Will of God
February 21, 1925
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