Article January 3, 1931 Issue

Growth

LILIAN BENJAMIN

For many years a hillside had been covered each spring with a certain beautiful flower, and then for several seasons no flowers appeared. Then a bush fire seemingly destroyed all the vegetation. Later, a few of these flowers appeared, then more and more, till the whole hillside was covered with its former beauty. The seeds had been there all the time, but a dense undergrowth had sprung up, and it had needed the fire to cleanse the ground and open it up to the light, air, and sun necessary for germination.

May not this be likened to the human experience of many of us? In the parable of the sower Jesus said, "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." Does it not often happen that we have heard and accepted the word of Truth, but the seemingly multitudinous duties of a busy life, the cares of a family, or the responsibilities of a business have caused those seeds of Truth to become choked, hidden by the thorns of material beliefs and affairs, thus rendering daily life unfruitful? Or perhaps we are faced with a great trial and all the material foundations on which we have built seem to fall away from us. In our great need we turn once more to Truth, realizing that we have allowed the thorns of error to cover the seeds, and rejoicing in the cleansing fire of the trial that has destroyed the thorns and opened the way for the seed to blossom and come to fruition.

Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 272), "In the soil of an 'honest and good heart' the seed must be sown; else it beareth not much fruit, for the swinish element in human nature uproots it." What is the seed that we are to sow and cherish so carefully if it is to bring forth good fruit? Is it not the truth about God and man as revealed to us in Christian Science, the great truth that the Father-Mother God has made man in His image and likeness and has given him dominion over all things? What a change comes into our lives as we realize what this means, as we awake from the dream of belief in the reality of materiality, with its fears and disappointments, to the understanding that in reality we reflect only good from Him in whom "we live, and move, and have our being." Since God, good, is All-in-all, there can be no place where good is not, and, consequently, no room for error or wrong beliefs! This understanding, then, is the seed of Truth; and as it flourishes in our hearts we reflect its glorious blessings in renewed health, greater activity, and an enlarged sense of our relationship to God and to our fellow man.

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