Article February 17, 1923 Issue

Obedience

MARGARET W. DYER

THROUGH obeying God's law men are healed of sickness, sin, poverty, fear, and sorrow. Jeremiah represents God as saying, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people." It is when we are not conforming to God's law that we seem to be the victims of the false belief of life and intelligence in matter, as evidenced in a lack of health, a lack of sufficient means to provide for one's necessities, a lack of happiness or well-being, each pointing to lack of at-one-ment with divine law. Step by step, we must learn to yield loving obedience to the Master's commands, and receive the freedom which follows from obedience to spiritual law. "The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 560 of the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." To gain the true idea of what makes for the reign of harmony, it is necessary to bring "every thought to the obedience of Christ," as Paul said.

This necessity of obedience presented itself to the writer because of her desire to bring up her children in accordance with the teachings of Christian Science, and early to render attractive, practical, and available to them in their daily experiences the power of Truth. We know that the children of divine Love are naturally and spontaneously obedient to God. Without wavering or hesitating, neither blindly nor unwillingly, but instantly and whole-heartedly, do they obey. But the fact is evident that the children of mortals often yield slowly to obedience, and appear not to wish to learn its lessons. Mrs. Eddy says on page 62 of Science and Health, "The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease."

Many instances of disobedience occurred in the writer's experience when the children were unruly and self-willed; but through the quiet realization of the truths of divine Science in the mother's thought, corrections were made. Many a time did the erring one return to express sweetly and lovingly the desire to obey, with a sense of peace and harmony pervading over all. A very homely experience, as an illustration of this, might be given. The youngest child, while playing with the sewing machine,—which was an act of disobedience,—got his finger caught, the needle passing through it. With difficulty the mother raised the needlebar in order to release the finger. Instantly there came to her the words, "God's child cannot know evil, cannot fear, never needs to be punished; for he is in accord with divine law." The child was told to put the finger behind him; not to look at it; and to keep his thought busy knowing God's nearness and love. He was told that if he was obedient, keeping out every thought of error, there would be no hurt or pain. No suggestion of punishment or condemnation was made. It was realized that the experience in itself would be a great lesson. Something called the mother into another room, leaving the child to work out his own problem and giving him the opportunity to obey what he understood of the truth and to reap the reward of his right thinking or obedience. On returning shortly, he was found playing happily, and later he remarked that he could not tell which finger had been hurt.

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