Article June 6, 1931 Issue

"Rise, ... and walk"

EMILY N. ZIEGLER

"Rise , take up thy bed, and walk." Such were the words of Jesus spoken to the man seeking healing at the pool of Bethesda. This man had been waiting for a long time for his healing, outlining in his own way how the healing would come. He was expecting someone to come at a certain time and carry him into the water. He was expecting some person to help to bring about his healing. And yet his healing came about in a manner entirely different from his own planning. Jesus came his way, and said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Was it not his ability to turn from his own planning and to hear the "still small voice" of the Christ, that enabled him to understand the words of the Master?

The first part of the command was to "rise." This rising in thought to the realization of God's all-power, this reaching out for God's hand, this seeking for the "still small voice," is the first step we all must take. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 16), "Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick."

Perhaps the bed on which we have been lying is financial limitation, unemployment, loneliness, disease, discordant business or home conditions, or sorrow. But no matter what seems to be limiting us, we can arise, and handle the false belief about any condition. Too often we attempt to handle the discord before we have arisen in thought, and confusion is the result. We may become so interested in seeking a material cause for our trouble as to forget there is only one cause, God. When we arise in consciousness, we can find our way through the wilderness. When an experienced woodsman becomes lost in a forest, often instead of seeking here and there for the path he climbs a high tree. From the height he may see clearly the way out. But he first had to climb!

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