Article July 14, 1934 Issue

"For our good always"

[Written Especially for Young People]

ANNE CLEVELAND CHENEY

A young girl at a formal dinner found herself almost alone in refusing to take a cigarette when they were handed round. She had, however, definitely decided that acceptance of a wholly artificial and worthless custom should not be allowed to sweep aside her deference for the standards of her loving parents, and thus belie her gratitude for all their tender, self-sacrificing efforts in her behalf. And this test she saw as an opportunity to pledge herself to what she knew was right.

Gratitude is a wonderful code maker! It is the result of the reflection of divine Love in human consciousness, and finds expression in honorable deeds and words. And it helps to foster reverence for the worth-while things of life. At that time gratitude to her parents alone had actuated the girl and enabled her to act in accord with their wishes and convictions. In later years, through Christian Science, she learned the way by which one's true selfhood can be recognized and made manifest in the overcoming of false material claims which limit and mislead humanity. She learned how, truly, to reverence the will of the Father-Mother, God, and find liberation.

A verse in Deuteronomy throws strong light on the question of grateful obedience to Principle, as against self-indulgent willfulness; and it presents the divine laws not as stern prohibitions, but as loving, wise, protective provisions. "The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day." If we bear in thought that fear, as used in this verse, may also mean reverence, we shall see how inspiring and comforting is the assurance concerning obedience to the decrees of "the Lord our God." We are to keep the moral law in grateful reverence for Love's perfect plan, that it may preserve in us the true sense of life and all that it means of pure, lasting joy and certainty.

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