Article October 25, 1919 Issue

Place

LUELLA M. MAC ARTHUR

WE cannot think of anything without, consciously or unconsciously, taking into consideration its relation to something else; and there is no relation except that coming through position; that is, through the place or order in which one particular thing stands, or is maintained, to other things, specific and general. On page 475 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy tells us that man "is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." In the light of this comprehensive statement we see that it is impossible to conceive of any idea, be it great or small, without considering its relation to God, and hence to man.

Idea never has to wait to find its place; neither is place ever idle waiting for idea to fill it. From the beginning they are inseparable. Thus, strictly speaking, one never has to look for a better or more advantageous place in which he may reflect God, because wherever he finds himself, at whatever instant, there is the place to be spiritually active. Nevertheless, through demonstrating or proving the spiritual fact that idea is always in its right place, it frequently develops that a Christian Scientist will find himself in new surroundings which are apparently richer in opportunity than his previous environment, or he will engage in new activities amid his old surroundings. In either case there will come changes in his human affairs and circumstances, which these new conditions make inevitable.

It follows, then, that whatever place we may occupy at any given time, right there is the point in our individual progress where we must prove that we are ready for the blessing of further unfoldment; that is, are able to recognize and accept more of the truth than we have yet known. Since every new problem is an added incentive to earnestness, loyalty, faith, labor, and receptivity to things spiritual, we find every place a starting point from which to respond to a call to higher duties. If we answer this call whole-heartedly, we shall always see the material situation changing, swiftly or slowly, according to the rate of improvement in our own mental state.

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