Article July 4, 1914 Issue

Longing for Light

MARY WARD LEWIS

Those who love nasturtiums have no doubt noticed that the flower-stems vary greatly in length. The flowers on the ends of the vines or in sunny locations, while just as bright and perfect, have short stems, while those close to the ground, under the thick leaves or back in shady corners, have long stems. They have had to reach a long way up to the sunlight. At first, the tiny buds down under the leaves must have had little sense of the sunshine. Thick, overhanging leaves shut them in, but they felt the call of the light; they needed it and steadily they grew toward it. One by one they rose above the leaves, and each finally presented its offering of fragrance and beauty. This effort made them the more desirable for service. They had gained by overcoming.

The lesson is obvious. When we first hear the call of Christian Science, to many of us it seems a long, hard way to reach the plane of spiritual understanding. Inherited false material beliefs seem to hide the light to Truth and interfere with our progress, but, like the flowers, we can rise above them all. Indeed, as Mrs. Eddy has said: "Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick." "We apprehend Life in divine Science only as we live above corporeal sense and correct it" (Science and Health, pp. 16, 167).

We do not need to transplant the flower to enable it to reach the sunshine. We know that it will rise above the leaves, and gain by that same effort. So in life, we do not have to go away from our home and friends or change our environment to come to our own. It may be our duty and our vantage to work out the life-problem just where we are, even though our surroundings may seem discouraging. In so doing we shall learn our lessons and gain strength. In rising above the seeming obstacles of our own path, we shall gain the freedom to reach and the wisdom to help others. As we look at the plants in the garden bed, nothing but leaves may appear; but under the leaves the buds are surely pushing their way upward, and when they reach the light, they will be all the stronger, and have the longer stems we so much desire, because of their patient effort. If, therefore, we see no evidence of the coming of our dear ones to Christian Science, we may still know that all is well. Under the unpromising seeming there is the fact that man, in truth, is God's child, and in the light of the Father's love, ever present and ever active, human sense will in due time yield to the drawing power of love, and spiritual sense will find its blossoming.

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