Article May 19, 1934 Issue

Reaping, Not Fainting

ETHEL COLWELL SMITH

A Proverb reads, "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small;" and those who are depending on mere human energy, ability, and judgment often find that this is so. He who would have courage to bear him on in the face of obstacles must learn that strength which comes from God, the one divine, unlimited source, is ever available. The prophet Isaiah turns us to this supreme, spiritual power, for his promise reads, "They that wait upon the Lord ... shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Searching the Scriptures for further enlightenment, we find that Paul has given us a simple recipe in these words "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not;" and the master Christian spoke a parable "to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

The word "faint" conveys more than mere physical indisposition. It may be associated with the terms depressed, spiritless, languid, feeble, despondent, timid, weak. Students of Mrs. Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" rejoice that they are learning of the one Mind, God, whose law is absolute. They are learning that God is Life, irrepressible, ever active; that God is Love, ever just and kind. Awakening to the great truth that man is spiritual, the image and likeness of God, Spirit, and utilizing it, the student gradually finds freedom from mental and physical weariness; he learns how to pray aright, continually, "and not to faint."

To pray as the Master taught includes rejecting and denying arguments and suggestions of evil that would tempt us to relax vigilance and industry when hard pressed by adversity. Even when to human sense the aspect is dreary, prayer enables the student to persist "in well doing." Often the voice of the accuser is loudest and its arguments most subtle when one is closest to success. In the face, then, of these fearful or alluring whisperings, prayer "without ceasing" sustains, strengthens, guides us safely through and beyond the shoals of despondency, timidity, weakness, or feebleness of purpose.

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