Article August 22, 1914 Issue

Clouds Dispelled

JOEL HARRY BENSON

In the purple valley the travelers paused and gazed skyward. The heavy fog was not yet dispersed, and the progress up the mountain was slow and toilsome. As the party advanced, the mists about them appeared to thicken, but at length a few rays from the rising sun glanced over the summit of the mountain and the bodiless vapor seemed to scamper away. Then, having attained some height above the clouds, they watched the beams of light dispel the mists, which soon disappeared. The lesson was self-evident.

Standing in the valley of discouragement, how often do we gaze ahead and seemingly upward at a cloudy outlook, with error moving the fearsome shadows of mortal belief expressed in unhappiness and discord! We must rise above the mists of corporeal sense and the limitations of mortal law, as did Jesus' disciples, by following Christ, Truth, up the mountain, there to approach perfection "from the summit of devout consecration" (Science and Health, p. 367). The deep sea, often used to symbolize the asserted entity of error, overwhelms the thought that lingers on the level of the surging tide of passion and woe, until it is uplifted by divine Love. As soon as darkness comes into the presence of light, "the former things are passed away."

At the Wednesday evening meeting, a cloud may arise through some word or phrase being dropped by a speaker in giving his testimony, but the meeting fulfils the purpose for which our Leader established it when it becomes a "feast and flow of Soul" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 149), through that charity which most fully reflects divine Love. To know silently that mistakes cannot creep into a meeting governed by divine intelligence, will help much. A wise word from another speaker, or the reader, may dispel the cloud, as witness the following examples: A lady testified that she had found one must work out his own problems; that in sickness one must do all his own work and not ask for help. Later, another sly fox crept in through the attempt to express gratitude for what "little" knowledge of Christian Science the speaker had.

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