Article May 18, 1957 Issue

WHEREIN MUST WE BE PATIENT?

MARGARET FLINT JACOBS

The word "patience" is commonly used to express qualities of endurance, forbearance, and uncomplaining persistence in the pursuit of an objective. Often there is an implied acceptance of trials or obstructions as real, as positive forces to be dealt with according to the adage, "What can't be cured must be endured."

Christian Science reveals a more constructive idea of patience: it does not stop with endurance under stress, but goes forward, courageously and persistently, to demonstrate the unreality of all unfortunate conditions and to replace them with positive, corrective thought and action.

A mother, lying wakeful in the night, was contemplating a problem which seemed very stubborn. Her son had been searching in vain for employment for several weeks. He had many applications, had had many interviews, all the while working with her in Christian Science to know that man is in his right place in Mind, forever active there. Once more the mother prayed for guidance and wisdom, prayed to overcome the suggestions of difficulty and frustration. The answer to her prayers came in words long familiar to humankind, "You must be patient!"

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