Article January 26, 1929 Issue

"The fruit of the Spirit"

VIVIAN MC CLELLAND

Beneath the shade of a spreading garden tree lived a fragile plant. From this small, stunted plant only occasional buds lifted their heads toward the light; and drooping back into the shadows even the buds withered away without unfolding.

An experienced gardener, seeing the plight of the little plant, transplanted it into the sunshine, and then waited. Almost immediately a transformation took place: new leaves sprang forth in profusion; and the plant grew large and strong, sending forth into the sunlight great sprays of colorful blossoms which drew the birds and butterflies to feast upon its fountains of sweetness.

How like the little plant, living in the shade of sin or of sickness, are the lives of many mortals! Surrounded by fear and limitation, by doubt and discouragement, they seem merely to exist until drawn to the message of Christian Science, which betokens the unfailing "balm in Gilead." Through the ministrations of Christian Science, struggling human hearts are being removed from the shade of material beliefs and transplanted into the sunlight of spiritual understanding. Then, this understanding having taken root in the soil of goodness and humility, the unfolding buds of the spiritual graces appear, afterwards to ripen into that reflection of Love which Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, terms "the fruit of the Spirit."

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