Article March 13, 1909 Issue

THE OTHER SIDE TO DISCOURAGEMENT

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

Most mortals are willing to work patiently and indefatigably for the accomplishment of their material plans,—for the possession of wealth, political power, social distinction, or any of the various prizes and baubles that attract mankind. But when it comes to the achievement of spiritual good, and the working out of their salvation from evil through their own individual effort, they are prone to fall into a sense of discouragement if satisfactory results are not quickly obtained. They fail to consider, in its relation to their present efforts, how long they had wandered in the wrong direction, or how willingly they had drifted with the current of human thought, else they would not be so impatient at the obstacles encountered in their return course. Too often, when one's whole strength is needed to cope with his difficulties, this thought of discouragement is allowed to paralyze one's endeavors, and to rob him of advantages which must sometime be regained before progress can be renewed.

Beginners in the study and practice of Christian Science need to remember that certain conditions are required of them before their new-found ideals can be fully realized. In Science, blind faith can never take the place of understanding; hence right results are not prematurely gained. Each student has a definite and individual work to do; but to sit down despairingly when one comes to the hard places only adds to its duration and difficulty. The adult mortal has not yet put away his "childish things," so he occasionally pouts when his desires are denied him. "I feel so discouraged," he says, "because I progress so slowly." Discouraged with what? Does he imply that the Almighty is unjust in His dealings, or that God is willingly withholding something which he ought to have? If he has striven so long and so faithfully and so patiently to serve God as he has to serve the world or to gain satisfaction from its allurements, he might have reasonable cause of complaint; but if he has not so striven, on what can he base his dejection?

There is a side to this question which belongs to God, and the sense of discouragement would be largely counteracted were we honestly to appreciate and consider this side as well as our own. Do we ever stop to think whether God has reason to be discouraged with us? Or do we forget how frequently we turn aside from the divine call, and how reluctantly we consent to God's demands? Do we take into account the fact that God does not grant mortals' desires without respect to their deserving? or, that one jot or one tittle of the law will not pass away until we have fulfilled it all? God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Are we striving to obey this? "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Do we? Divine Love demands of man that he shall do no evil, talk no evil, think no evil. Do we gladly respond to this demand? How much of our affection, desire, thought, energy, means, time, do we give to God? How much do we withhold? The promise is not to the lukewarm nor to the laggard, but to him who shall seek with "all" his heart, to him who shall seek the kingdom of God "first." Have we a greater ambition than to know and live the truth? Do we prize aught more highly than the spiritual understanding of God which enabled Jesus to heal the sick and to raise the dead? Are our first thought and our greatest endeavor devoted to the gaining of that understanding? Do we love to indulge self better than to reflect Love? Is our own will more to us than the will of God? What can we honestly say to these questions?

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