Article April 19, 1924 Issue

The Manna of To-day

LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY COOK

The thought is sometimes expressed by those who feel themselves to be very busy people that they wish they had more time to read their Christian Science books, for they realize they are not progressing as they should. They believe that their failure to advance is simply for lack of opportunity to study. Any such may be comforted by being lovingly reminded that since our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, possessed in marked degree that rare gift of expressing a great deal in a few words, she could put into every one of her divinely inspired sentences enough wisdom to keep the reader occupied for a long time, if he really assimilates it and makes it his own. While we should, of course, read as much as we can, and as often as we can, thus obeying her injunction in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 495), "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit," yet a single page or paragraph, or even a single sentence, carefully analyzed, understood, and put to the test in the daily life until it is proved by demonstration, will do more to advance spiritual growth than several chapters read hastily and perfunctorily with the eyes alone, while the thought wanders far afield.

To illustrate: there is a single sentence in Science and Health which has often been enough in itself to help at least one student through many a trying day; and it is found on page 454, as follows: "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way." With most of us situations often arise when we seem not to know exactly what to do. We have, perhaps, asked human advice, only to find that more confusion ensues as the belief of many minds grows stronger. How it rests one in a case such as this to get away from the miasma of human opinions (no matter how lovingly they may have been given) to be alone with God, and to do what should have been done in the first place,—ask guidance from the only true and infallible source of all wisdom. How quickly under such circumstances does a sentence like this stand out like a star in the darkness!

Love, first of all, "inspires." Love implants in our heart the longing to take a more advanced step, whatever it may be,—the desire to grow, to unfold, to move, to reach out, to do something worthier. There is a divine unrest in our consciousness, a spiritual intuition that there is something to be done, some new move to be made, some new action to be taken; and it is Love which first inspires us with the courage and resolution to do this thing, which seems to our best judgment to be right. As yet all is darkness; we cannot see our path ahead. We want to go, but the situation seems so complicated that we dare not move for fear of making a mistake. But as we stand irresolute, our star shines on, and we remember that Love not only "inspires," but "illumines." As we declare and realize this, the light increases. We no longer grope in the darkness of uncertainty, but rejoice in the knowledge that "thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." The whole situation is suddenly illumined. Perhaps, indeed, we now see so many ways before us, where before we saw none at all, that we again become confused, and cannot decide which is the right step to take first. At this point, we find that Love also "designates," and the word "designates," of course, simply means "points out." As we read in Isaiah: "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

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