Article August 8, 1931 Issue

Holidays and Holy Days

ETHEL MUNRO GOSS

A city dweller had left behind her the clang and noise of city streets, and had spent a quiet afternoon at the edge of a little shining lake, where the cool waters splashed over gray rocks and driftwood. The hours had passed in such peace and tranquillity that her thoughts were filled with gratitude for the loving provision that had given her these hours of leisure and had enabled her to utilize them for restful thinking.

In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 330) Mrs. Eddy writes, "With each returning year, higher joys, holier aims, a purer peace and diviner energy, should freshen the fragrance of being." When one seeks such refreshment as the main object of a vacation, a holiday becomes a holy day, which is the true meaning of the word. With many workers a vacation is considered a necessity, and while there may be a human need for physical rest, yet one's greatest need is to change and refresh one's thinking; and every holiday will be enriched if one uses it also as a means of spiritual refreshment.

It is related of Isaac that he "went out to meditate in the field at the eventide." Did he meditate on the wonderful promise which God had made to Abraham, and to all mankind, the promise which reads, "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee"?

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