Article March 24, 1986 Issue

Stake your claim

MARION H. STEKOLL

In the gold-rush days in the United States, prospectors, after finding a likely spot, would claim the rights to mine gold in that area. These claims were valid if the laws applicable to mining were followed. With a good deal of hard work, a claim might result in substantial material reward to the owner. These mining rights, however, could result in the owner's obtaining exercise and not much else.

Through the study of Christian Science we learn to make a claim for our divine rights and so gain the true "gold" of life, spiritual good. Finding this gold involves gaining an understanding of man's oneness with God. The laws of God, understood and followed, provide us with an unalterable basis for claiming our rights and experiencing God's blessings in every aspect of our lives. Unlike prospectors, who did not have a sure way to find gold or even to keep it, we learn through Christian Science the way not only to stake our claim but also to reject false claims, which would deprive us of spiritual good.

Our divine rights include the ability to know ourselves and others as God's spiritual creation in His image and likeness and so to know God's love and to express it. But to claim the spiritual good that is ours, we must be aware of our rights. Here another analogy may be useful. Most of us have read of individuals' being given an inheritance but not being notified of it, because the executors do not know their whereabouts. The inheritance is rightfully theirs, but since they do not know about it, they cannot put in their claim. Likewise to seek or to claim that which is rightfully ours from God, we need to be aware of the gifts that God is constantly bestowing on us.

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