Article September 6, 1924 Issue

Gentleness

MYRA A. PAINE

For a Christian Scientist, the "top of the ladder" is wholehearted consecration to God. If he is longing, above all else, to see manifested the glory of God, good, his desire will help him to deal more gently with all around him who are honestly wanting good. Through repeated physical healings and improved mental conditions the Christian Scientist soon perceives the necessity for an unselfish use of his spiritual understanding, and instead of aiming for ease in matter, he begins to long to "forget self in laboring for mankind," as Mrs. Eddy has admonished on page 155 of "Miscellaneous Writings."

When a Christian Scientist is daily walking with God, realizing his own need for more spirituality, he is not so liable to be tempted into allowing his mortal selfhood to be harshly evident in his contact with his fellows. Yet all Scientists seem to need to be more alert so as not to bruise, thoughtlessly or carelessly, any mentality that is earnestly seeking Truth. They need to remember that Jesus rebuked his disciples for their harshness in desiring to push away the hungry multitude, the little children, and the blind beggar, and that he was always ready to meet compassionately any claim upon his time.

So, in every walk of life we must learn to be more patient. The schoolmaster who is being governed by divine Mind will strive not to bruise a timid student with sarcasm. The teacher must live what he has learned, reflecting God so confidently that not only will the slow student be quickened, but the insubordinate one will acknowledge good, and love to be obedient to Godlike authority. The business-man who knows that any right activity is simply the reflection of the ever-presence of divine Mind loses the desire to fight his way against his rival, to demand recognition for the good he does, or to crush any one who opposes him. He has attained to real assurance in the fact that no mortal can disrupt or withhold the progress that is the law of God. Furthermore, the friend who sees his neighbor's real selfhood as God's reflection is careful not to let himself be condescendingly amused at another's struggles, nor to pick out foibles in another to ridicule him for the amusement of the crowd, since the Christian Scientist realizes how those very same weaknesses, or even weightier ones, may need uprooting from his own mortal consciousness.

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