Editorial April 24, 1915 Issue

"Patient waiting"

Annie M. Knott

One of the most difficult lessons of humanity, from childhood up, is to wait patiently for any desired good. A child is clamorous for the granting of its desire and brooks no delay, but with the discipline of years and experience, the adult finds that he must wait for what he wants, whether he will or no, although this is not often done with a good grace. In many cases, alas, "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," and disappointment takes the place of desire; but this can never result if we are "trusting God with our desires, that they may be molded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (Science and Health, p. 1). If we are waiting patiently upon God, and gaining a clearer sense of the divine will, our purified desire will be growing radiant with faith, hope, and trust, for the good which God is keeping for us is far beyond any mortal sense of it. "The things which God hath prepared for them that love him" are surely well worth waiting for.

In the olden time Jacob declared, just before his departure, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord," and soon after the dawn of Christianity Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." When the ever-presence of the Christ is realized, we have salvation, and it is well to remember that this means health of mind and body. Jacob had "glorious glimpses" (Science and Health, p. 333) of the salvation for which he waited. After his wrestling at Peniel, when spiritual sense triumphed, the long feud between his brother and himself was healed, and little wonder, for did not the angel say to him, "As a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed"?

There had been long years of waiting before the brothers were ready for this triumph of Truth and Love, but when it came there was no selfish grasping after goods and chattels, but princely giving; for the one good, Love's reflection, was seen to outweigh all material things. Later, Jacob waited over twenty years in sorrow, because he believed that Joseph was dead, and when joy at last dawned upon him, he thought it too good to be true. But as mortal blindness cannot always obscure spiritual sense, Joseph was restored to him, and so noble withal that even his high estate paled before his spiritual achievements. In Joseph we see a beautiful type of "pure affection blessing its enemies" (Science and Health, p. 589), and his years of waiting, even those spent in a prison, serving an unjust sentence, were not wasted, for a splendid manhood was being unfolded, made ready for the highest service to men and nations.

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