Gardening

ELMA E. WILLIAMS.

In a small village in the middle west live two retired farmers. Each has his comfortable home, with ample grounds and large garden, and the contrast between their methods of gardening is suggestive.

As soon as the first indications of spring appear, one begins his preparations, selecting his seed, sharpening his tools, etc., and from the time the seed is sown until the vegetables are stored, he is always at work. He works both faithfully and systematically, and as a result reaps abundantly for his labor.

The other works, yes, works hard, but with odds against him, for too often he waits "a more convenient season" to plow and to hoe, to sow and to weed. He often grumbles at the smallness of his crop, and when he has gathered it he leaves the ground covered with the signs of "what has been," offering as an excuse for his slovenliness that "the birds need something for winter." The successful man, on the contrary, clears off his ground and burns up the refuse, thus saving himself extra work later on, and also making his place a more attractive spot, while out of his abundance he scatters from his barn door grain for the birds.

As Christian Scientists working in the garden of mentality, which man's methods are we following? The majority of us have come to Christian Science with a soil already filled with the weeds of malice, fear, self-will, poverty, and kindred errors; and when the seed of Truth is first sown in such a soil, it seems as though it could not possibly find room to grow. It requires patient and persistent labor on our part to remove the erroneous beliefs, which, left to themselves, would choke the tender ideas of Truth and Love, and hinder their development. It is our work to prepare the soil, and it must be thoroughly done.

In proportion as our fields become fit for the seed of Truth, the weeds disappear, for they find neither place nor nourishment in the soil of a renewed heart.

We have as our guides in this work the Bible, our textbook "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." and the other writings of our Leader, together with our periodicals, which constantly uncover to us some unseen weed, some latent latent error, so that we may uproot it before it gets a "start."

On page 457 of Science and Health we read, "Christian Science is not an exception to the general rule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at the same time defeat the enemy. To pursue other vocations, and advance rapidly in the demonstration of this Science, is not possible."

It is not pleasant to pull weeds under a burning sun, and the one way to avoid it is to rise and work in the cool of the morning, and thus keep the soil so stirred with alert endeavor, that the noxious things cannot spring up.

The gardener must also protect his garden by removing the pests which would destroy the harvests. Perhaps the most common of these are discouragement, disappointment, and loquacity about error. These and many other things are to be destroyed by the declarations of Truth and Love.

"The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less wearisome when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she only counts her bleeding footsteps in reaching that goal" (Science and Health, p. 426).

Personal experience bears testimony that if one can become absorbed in planting and cultivating the seedlings of Truth, he will be much surprised some day to find that the weeds have all disappeared.

When the harvest is gathered, the demonstration made, we must be just as careful as is the gardener to go over the ground and destroy every remaining manifestation of error, so that there may be nothing left to impede the next season's growth, to retard our next demonstration.

We thus see that the thrifty farmer is thoughtful; he selects good seed, he prepares the soil, he nourishes the growing plants, and he destroys the weeds. These are the steps by which he wins his harvest, and our progress and success in Christian Science are to be attained by the same thoughtfulness, industry, and persistence. We cannot sow too abundantly the seeds of charity, humility, perseverance, and faith. Such seed, watered with love to God and to man, cannot fail to bring forth fruit unto life everlasting.

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