Editorial June 24, 1922 Issue

Joyous Work

Albert F. Gilmore

A belief almost as old as the tradition of mortal man—made from the dust of the ground, as the account in Genesis has it—is to the effect that man was cursed, sentenced, as it were, to a life of hardship and struggle; and that this experience was imposed upon mortals as the price of maintaining the false sense of life, which constitutes the whole fabric of material existence. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground," was the ominous sentence pronounced upon the Adam-belief of man; and, from that far-distant day, mankind has continued a round of labor under the firm conviction that in no other way could the human sense of life be maintained. As this in the main has been mortals' highest sense of life, it is seen at once how all-important in human opinion has been the problem of work.

The constant round of labor has often been accompanied by such a sense of drudgery and hardship that, bowed under its weight, humanity has yearned for relief, scarcely expecting to find it this side of the experience called death. Not a few have even welcomed that change, in the hope of relief from the heaviness of labor, which had so greatly constricted their human careers. A boon conferred by Christian Science upon its students and all who accept its teachings, is the understanding of work in a better, that is, in a spiritual sense, and of man's true relation to the whole problem of labor,—with the result that the thought of burden and weariness, which work has so long engendered, has departed, proportionately to the degree of that understanding; and it is found that with the application of the truth of being, it is possible for mankind to labor with joy. Carlyle saw the value of joy in work. "Give us, O give us, the man who sings at his work! He will do more in the same time,—he will do it better,—he will persevere longer," more than hints at the possibilities of joyous labor. Christian Scientists are gaining the understanding of work in its spiritual meaning to a degree that enables them to overcome the sense of weariness, substituting in its stead the zest and exhilaration of accomplishment, with the result of demonstrating in some particular—however unimportant to human eye—the rule and reign of divine Love.

The importance of proving the presence and availability of good is much more than mere accomplishment of a given task. A careful study of those immortal words of the Master, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," in the light of the spiritual understanding gained in Christian Science, reveals a message fraught with meaning. "Take my yoke upon you," might seem to imply the assuming of additional burdens by those already overladen with the weight of human existence; but immediately follows the assurance, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Hereby did the gentle Nazarene, whose cares in a human way might well be regarded as the greatest ever borne, indicate his superiority to the sense of heaviness and burden, the common concomitants of material existence, which made it possible for him to declare the lightness of his burdens (troubles), and the easiness of his yoke.

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