Article January 20, 1934 Issue

The Fulfillment of Good

THOMAS C. HOLLINGSHEAD

A Practitioner who was helping a student to see the unreality of a discouraging difficulty urged him to let his expectancy be of the fulfillment of good. To the sufferer this seemed to be advice that could not be followed. The difficulty appeared so real, the clouds so dark, the expected evil results so inevitable, that there appeared to him no possibility of any good outcome.

One day, however, a lesson came to him which broke the false sense of the impossibility of good, and showed him the need of effort on his part, if he would rise out of despondency. Two small children had been throwing their caps into the air and trying to catch them as they came down. A careless throw had resulted in the cap of one lodging in a tree, and its owner, after gazing at it a moment, sank to the ground, crying in despair. Not so the other little fellow! Pausing for a moment to comfort his friend, he began looking about for some means of carrying out his intention to get the cap. Directly he spied a stick, but, alas! upon trial it was found not to be long enough to reach the cap. After further search he found a somewhat shaky box, and when he had placed this and climbed on it he was able to dislodge the cap with the stick. A smile of gratitude covered the face of the owner as the two little friends went off hand in hand; and the thankfulness that flowed from the heart of the one to whom this lesson had come was equally brightening. Till then he had been as the one whose cap seemed lost—inclined to accept defeat without effort; while it was now seen that the attitude of the second lad was what should be his—active endeavor to remedy an unhappy situation.

With what tenderness had the leading of infinite Love shown this sufferer what was needed! How clearly he could see that in the thought of the one who had regained the cap there must have been expectancy of the fulfillment of good, such as the practitioner had urged upon him.

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