Article June 6, 1931 Issue

Real Housework

ELLEN SMART

Christian scientists are trying to keep their mental homes clean, and they should be continually at work. There are many different departments to this work, yet they blend so beautifully that each one is dependent on the others. No corners can be overlooked, and nothing can be left half done. In ordinary everyday housework we have sweeping, dusting, cleaning, and so on, each one of which has to be attended to as a separate task. No one expects to obtain the desired results by merely looking at the things. There must be active labor. It is the same with our study of Christian Science, The Scientist must be continually active if he wishes to keep his mental house clean.

To say a kind word for someone when others may be faultfinding, to help the worried or unhappy, to find opportunities to practice universal love—these are only a few of the ways in which the corners may be kept clean. We can at all times be practicing this work, and it can be carried on without any commotion or disturbance. While to mortal sense everything, outwardly speaking, is at a standstill, yet great work can be and has been done in Christian Science. "Be still, and know that I am God," we read in Psalms. This does not mean that we should be idle. We are bidden to do mental work. However adverse they may seem to be, material and temporal affairs will gradually be adjusted as we let our thinking and acting be directed by the one Mind, God, and in this way begin to learn what real action is.

The Psalmist's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," emphasizes the need of this cleansing process in regard to our thoughts. Patience is very necessary and needs constantly to be practiced—not idle, passive patience, but patience which is active and alert.

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