Article February 23, 1924 Issue

Growth

GEORGE HOLMES BLANCHARD

When we have gained, through the study of Christian Science, some concept of the wonderful truths about Life, we begin to long for perfection; but we may sometimes forget what Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 254) about the impossibility of dispensing with "human footsteps." She also writes on page 21 of the same book, "If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in," and, "If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy." The promise is that he will "gain a little each day." Here is where patience must have her perfect reward. The forest pine did not attain its height in a single day. The Bible says that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Therefore, let us not be discouraged, but joy in each step gained and retained. A step is a little thing and shorter than a leap; but by taking one step after another, and persisting in the effort, one can accomplish a distance far beyond the possibility of a leap.

Let us reach out for some new understanding of Truth each day. For instance: study a word or a phrase in the weekly Lesson-Sermon; find out just what it means, and how it may be put into practice. Or, let us also definitely recognize some little fault in ourselves—of temper, unkindness, criticism, jealousy, untruthfulness, exaggeration in any direction—and then correct the error. These are all steps, needful steps, in a day's gain; and they open the way for a greater gain on the succeeding day.

We are also told on page 11 of Science and Health, "If we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it." Certain sacrifices may seem large to us,—material pleasures, material possessions, luxuries, contentment in the false sense of friendship and love,—and we may sigh with dismay over the task before us. But ere long we begin to learn the truth of the saying that "virtue is its own reward." Indulgences which seemed to give pleasure lose their attractiveness. Appetites go without a sense of loss; human relationships are placed upon a higher basis: the old is gone, and its place filled with spiritual joy beyond all previous conception. Every time one corrects an error in himself, he is reducing the sum total of human error. The activity of a good thought continues, in conjunction with all other good thoughts, in the work of error's extermination.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

The Beauty of Gentleness