Article September 25, 1909 Issue

THE FIRST STEP

LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY.

A CERTAIN Christian Science church recently decided to build a much needed room for the Sunday School, and at a meeting of its members which had been called to discuss the matter, money was freely given and pledges made for that purpose. Among that company of eager, happy people there was one whose heart was heavy. She longed to give, but she had no income of her own, and circumstances at home were such that she did not feel justified in asking others to contribute to a cause in which she alone was interested. How could she make even a pledge? A pledge is a promise, and she had been brought up to consider a promise a sacred thing, not to be made lightly, nor without absolute assurance of ultimate fulfilment. A promise to pay a certain amount within a specified time, without the slightest idea as to where the money was to come from, seemed a proposition so fraught with risk as to be scarcely within reason; so, while those around her were busy, her own pencil lay idle in her fingers. She who would gladly have given a thousand dollars seemed utterly unable to give as many cents!

But she had learned in Christian Science that "desire is prayer" (Science and Health, p. I). and that all right prayer is answered. As she sat there, struggling with the situation, the "still small voice" of Truth came to her, as it comes to all who listen for that loving call. And she thought, Suppose I do not now know where the money is to come from; what does it matter? Where does "every good gift and every perfect gift" come from, in the first place? Is not God the one source of supply? "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." It is just a false belief which would try to keep me sitting here, bound hand and foot, helpless, doubting, and afraid. I can give to this Sunday School, for my income does not depend upon any person, but upon the one perfect Principle that has all, and is All. I can make a pledge, and I do not need to know how it is going to be paid. That is God's part. My part is to trust Him— absolutely—to take the only step that I can see ahead, and to leave the rest to Him.

She took up her pencil and wrote. The amount pledged was small, perhaps the smallest, in actual dollars and cents, which was made that night; but if she had signed her name for a million it could not have looked, at the moment, more hopeless of attainment. At this point a new perplexity confronted her, as the printed slip asked the donor to state in what way the money was to be paid,—whether weekly, monthly, or semiannually. How could she say? But after a few minutes' study the sturdy little pencil was again at work, and she wrote the non-committal statement, "As I can." For she said to herself, Perhaps God will give it all to me tomorrow, who knows? All sense of personal responsibility seemed suddenly lifted. She dropped her pledge among the others, with these words from the textbook singing themselves over and over in her heart: "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way" (Science and Health, p. 326)

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