Editorial April 22, 1916 Issue

"That they might have life"

John B. Willis

We of the northlands are again surrounded by reminders of that miracle of renaissance, that tidal reappearing of the infinitely varied manifestations of life, which may be so interpreted as to bring stimulus and spiritual uplift to thought as well as delight to the eye. In the midst of the greatest appeal ever made to the human heart and understanding, Christ Jesus called attention to a simple flower, and intimated that its study in the light of a right concept of God and His universe would prove immeasurably illuminating. If, therefore, we can but acquire the mental mood in which the flowers of the field become our teachers, then indeed we shall not lack that wisdom which the Scriptures declare is above rubies.

He who goes out into the morning to realize, as Mrs. Eddy has said, that "the one Mind or Spirit called God ... supplies all form and comeliness" (Science and Health, p. 281), and that these are not dependent upon materiality, has gained that scientific point of view which is saving, because it makes it possible for him to extract the honeyed treasures of inspiration and strength from every wayside flower. It will increase that knowledge of good which, as Jesus taught, is the very substance of life. To the mentally alert this gain is both natural and inevitable. It were quite impossible for one to watch the opening bud without being impressed with the beauty, the power, and the glory of the spiritual ideal. This is "the secret of the Lord," and it is with all them that fear Him.

Absorption in materiality, failure to discern the true substance,—this is one of the world's greatest mistakes, and the so-called "living" which it constitutes is a perpetual deception and disappointment. Life is not without, but within. In an important sense, everything worth while is a hidden treasure, and in Christian Science it is made clear that in searching for it we begin to "arise from the dead." As one studies the four-petaled chalice of a field poppy he can but observe its wondrous orderliness, its delicacies of color, its perfection of beauty, and he is immediately impressed with the purity, the chasteness, the artistry, the ideality, the righteousness of the thought behind it. Here is an appearing that materiality cannot explain, and immediately spiritual sense becomes ascendant. The most significant of all the miracles is taking place in our awakening to Truth's ever-presence, and this experience directly contributes to the fulfilment of the Master's words, "That they might have life."

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