Article September 29, 1928 ISSUE

"When thou prayest"

CHARLES W. HALE

Everyone aspires to something beyond what he now has; and the aspirations vary according to the type of individual thought, not necessarily taking form in words, but manifesting themselves in deep-seated desire. Some look wholly to material things, and long for and labor to secure greater abundance of material possessions, a greater degree of satisfaction in the desires of the "carnal mind,"—to use Paul's phrase,—a greater sense of ease in matter. Others aspire to higher mental possessions, to knowledge, to greater business or professional ability. Then there are those who look to and desire a greater degree of spiritual things, a getting away from the flesh, from the sordid and the mundane. Therefore, regardless of one's position, character, or mode of living, everyone in some manner prays, either to the living God, or to some false god of his own devising. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 1), "Desire is prayer." It is clear, therefore, that each one expresses some desire, or prayer, in every aspiration to attain something which may seem to him to be more desirable than that which he already possesses.

In Proverbs it is declared that as one "thinketh in his heart, so is he." Therefore, it is evident that prayer, or aspiration, is answered in quality similar to that of the prayer, or desire, expressed or experienced in the consciousness of the individual. The materially-minded, greedy and selfish, reap the effects of material desires; while the spiritually-minded, unselfish and pure, attain to greater spirituality and its accompanying blessings; for, as Paul pointed out, "he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

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