Article July 13, 1918 ISSUE

The Joys of Childhood

AMANDA COLBATH

One cannot long be a student of Christian Science before his attention is directed to the numerous references in Scripture comparing the spiritual progress of the adult to that of a little child. The question then arises, How is this to be made practical? There comes a time in the life of the adult when he can no longer depend on human parents for protection and guidance. He has reached the milestone which is termed the age of accountability. The responsibilities which confront him may cause him to recall the freedom which attended his childhood, and a desire goes out to experience again the joy of former years when childish confidence and trust in human parents to care for him shielded him from present care as well as from anxiety for the future.

It is a well-known fact that no one would wish to return to his childhood, with all which the word implies; but he feels the need of something outside of himself on which he can rely, and his thought therefore goes out to the days of his childhood when his burdens were largely borne by human parents. Mrs. Eddy has written in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," on page 74: "In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown." It is, therefore, impossible to reach again the joys of childhood or the joy of any past experience through the beliefs of the flesh. This can be done only through an understanding of God and of man's relationship to Him.

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