Article November 8, 1930 Issue

Stumblingblocks or Stepping-Stones?

DELLA A. WILLIAMS

When a child first enters school he does not realize the nature of the many difficult problems which will be his to solve before completing his education. For the first year or two he is apt to stumble along without knowing much of what it is all about. Then, as his teachers help him over the rough places, he gradually learns to solve his own problems by faithful study and careful application of the rules involved. After years of increased effort he also learns that those dreaded stumblingblocks of his childhood were but stepping-stones to his gradual promotion.

As students of Christian Science we, too, learn that the mental stumblingblocks of error, which at times seem to hinder our progress, prove to be stepping-stones toward greater spiritual understanding. When, because we are stumbling along over our ordinary daily tasks, and perhaps making much of a reality of material troubles, the path seems rough, would we not make better progress were we to lean on Spirit instead of on matter? Should we not, by applying our understanding of God, infinite Spirit, to the problem, make stepping-stones of these very trials that seem to us unsurmountable?

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says (p. 374), "You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental cause and effect." Fear of disease often seems a big stumbling-block, but when we learn of its unreality, disease has no terror for us; and this understanding becomes to us a stepping-stone to health and harmony.

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