Article November 5, 1927 Issue

A Lesson from the Pines

BESSIE MILDRED JAMES

A NORTHEASTERLY gale was blowing, and from the vantage ground of a glazed-in veranda a student was silently watching the white-capped waves breaking in white frothiness upon the beach below. The spot was too sheltered to catch the full force of the wind, but on the hillsides above the great pines tossed and swayed before it. In a momentary lull their great trunks stood upright; then the wind would catch their proud heads again and tear, toss, and bear them downwards, this way and that, until it seemed as if they must snap in two or be torn out by the roots.

Not till the next morning were those fine old trees at peace again, and then it was found that the wind had cleared them of much rubbish, and that the rain had washed from their needles the accumulated dust of weeks, while it had softened the stiff soil, providing refreshment for their roots. Upright they stood, giving forth an air of freshness, suggesting purification. The student, noticing their renewed beauty, read the lesson they so aptly taught. We need not fear, she thought, for ourselves or for the dear ones about us who are being buffeted by the storms of error. However much material sense may contradict the statement, we who have the understanding of Christian Science can stand rooted and grounded in Truth, and although like the pines we may bend before the blasts, it is only to spring upward once more, and later to realize that the storm has really been a blessing, purifying our thought and strengthening our faith in and our understanding of divine Mind, thereby enabling us to achieve yet greater spiritual heights.

As the pines were relieved by the wind and rain of their dead branches and the dust of the wayside, so the student of Christian Science, by his combats with adverse conditions, is relieved only of the superfluous or unreal attributes of so-called mortal mind, such as self-righteousness, vainglory, and the many other forms of error which beset each one of us in our journey from sense to Soul. We need not, therefore, fear for our fellow travelers or ourselves when we meet these testing times; for as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 66), "Trials are proofs of God's care." And James has written: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

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