Article March 12, 1921 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Willard L. Sperry, Canon Barnes, Albert Dawson, J. Lewis Paton, Robert Leonard Tucker, J. G. Barry

["The Valley of Baca"—The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, U.S.A., January 13, 1921]

When Charles Dickens drew the character of Mark Tapley, who was always looking for a condition sufficiently dismal and univiting to enable him to "come out strong," but who invariably found that his own kindly disposition changed every depressing circumstance in which he found himself into an agreeable one, he may have caught some glimpse of what the psalmist meant when he wrote, "Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well," or, as the Revised Version gives it, "Passing through the valley of weeping they make it a place of springs." Human history abounds with instances of men and women who, when conditions seemed hopeless and every one around them had yielded to the mesmerism of depression, or even of despair, have manifested a faith and courage so sublime that it has saved the entire situation. Indeed, it may be said that the test of an individual's unselfishness is his ability to change the valley of Baca into a well, for this implies some understanding of what the Master meant when he said, "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

One of the great blessings which Christian Science is bringing to mankind is just this ability to transform the valley of weeping into a place of springs. The temptation, of course, always is to sit down in the valley, to pitch one's tent there and yield to the mesmeric suggestion of grief and loss. But the psalmist said that the man whose strength was in God would pass through the valley, and that in his passing he would make it a place of refreshment and inspiration. On pages 149 and 150 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee." What a comforting thought is this! Whether the circumstance be what human sense terms trivial or overwhelming, he who has come into touch with Principle perpetually proves that every valley experience can be made a cause of rejoicing.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access