Article September 9, 1916 Issue

Joy in Obeying

S. BELLE GORHAM

Until the human will is laid down and God's will obeyed, we can never realize the joy and peace which obedience to divine Principle unfailingly brings. One of the sweetest proofs of this came to a young student of Christian Science through an experience in the schoolroom.

This student was the teacher of a class of little boys and girls. Harmony usually reigned, but there came a period when everything seemed to go wrong. When obedience was demanded by the teacher, the little feet shuffled and the little heads turned away just when attention was most needed. Irritation and impatient rebukes followed, and each day the teacher went home heart-sick over it all, for she loved the children, but she had been cross. They must, however, obey her, for this was right; and so in a groping way she tried each evening, in the quiet of her own room, to realize that they were God's little ones, and that the children of divine Love are always obedient. How could they really be otherwise? It was discouraging, nevertheless, to see no apparent results follow these efforts, for day after day discordant conditions repeated themselves.

One evening, almost in despair, the teacher said within herself: Why is it that these efforts on my part bring no results? There must be a reason for it; something more is needed,—if I only knew what. The answer came, clear as a voice, that obedience is reflection. It was like a flood of light, dispelling the darkness. In the words of our revered Leader, it rebuked "the foul senses within" (Christian Science Hymnal, p. 212).

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