Editorial September 12, 1908 Issue

ENJOYMENT

Annie M. Knott

It is scarcely possible to lay too much emphasis upon the fact that joy is one of the essentials of our being, that it is to our mentality what sunshine is to fruit and flower. Many of us were taught that the "chief end" of man is to glorify God and "to enjoy Him forever," but in most cases it was believed that the enjoyment must be deferred until after death. In Christian Science, however, we have come to see that as we glorify God,—in other words, reflect the divine nature,—we enjoy Him here and now. We also learn that we glorify God by enjoying Him, and this includes the enjoyment of all the good He confers, for as Mrs. Eddy says, "God is not separate from the wisdom He bestows" (Science and Health, p. 6), neither can He be separate from the good He bestows. Unfortunately, mortals have so long entertained a false sense of happiness that its pursuit has come to be regarded as always disappointing, if not actually wrong. It was Burns who said,—

Pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow—falls in the river,
A moment white—then melts forever ...
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.