Article July 17, 1926 Issue

Minding Our Business

HAZEL L. ZIMMERMAN

It is certain that when Mrs. Eddy recommended a mode of procedure and then designated its carrying out as a privilege, she meant what she said. On page 276 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" there appears in an excerpt from the Christian Science Sentinel of May 16, 1908, a large lesson for the student of Christian Science who desires to bring into his experience, be it in his business, home, or church activities, a greater measure of harmony and peace. In this excerpt Mrs. Eddy states, speaking of herself, "When accumulating work requires it, or because of a preference to remain within doors she omits her drive, do not strain at gnats or swallow camels over it, but try to be composed and resigned to the shocking fact that she is minding her own business, and recommends this surprising privilege to all her dear friends and enemies." No woman ever more truly minded her own business than Mrs. Eddy. She has been called one of the world's great business women; and in her activity as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science the far-raching extent and achievement of this business, which she saw so clearly as the Father's business, cannot be measured. Why did she so heartily recommend the privilege of minding their own business to all alike? Because she knew that the very effort to obey this instruction would bring both friends and so-called enemies into line with the law of divine Principle, which governs all business, all activity—in fact, every event of our lives.

How many times during the day in our various occupations, in the office, in the home, or in the schoolroom, do we look over at our neighbor's desk, or his garden, or view his plan of procedure with this mental reservation: "I would not do it that way; I would do it thus"! Perhaps we are even tempted to speak out, saying that thus and so "would be a better plan, quicker of results"! Oh, the busybody of meddlesomeness! It is one of evil's most willing workers; and the effort of evil is ever to induce us to interfere with God's plan for His beloved son.

We know so well that God is all-power, all-presence, all true knowledge, and that man is His true reflection. Then why not quietly leave God in charge, and stop endeavoring to tend the regulation of either our neighbor's activities or our own? Such demonstrated selflessness will be abundantly rewarded, not only in increased patience and forbearance, but in the added fruits to be gathered from our own vines when we have learned to give their cultivation our undivided attention. The unfolding good to be experienced in closer acquaintance with God's individual plan for each one of his little ones is evidenced in Paul's counsel: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

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