"Cherish humility"

MARGARET WINGFIELD

"Cherish humility, 'watch,' and 'pray without ceasing,' or you will miss the way of Truth and Love. Humility is no busybody: it has no moments for trafficking in other people's business, no place for envy, no time for idle words, vain amusements, and all the et cetera of the ways and means of personal sense" (Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 356). A dictionary defines the word "cherish" in part as follows: "Value, hold in one's heart, cling to." It is clear, then, that to be obedient to our Leader's injunction we must "cling to" humility. Whatever we consider to be to value to us we must hold in our heart.

In Christian Science we know that whatever we hold in our heart, our consciousness, we also put into practice in our daily experience. There is no doubt that we need to gain a deeper sense of humility by seeing, through the lens of Spirit, that we are at one with God, divine Mind, and that omnipotent and omnipresent Mind is the only intelligence.

Whenever we feel tired, lonely, unhappy, afraid, hurt, ill, and so forth, this shows that we are not expressing sufficient humility. We must therefore begin at once to see that we have not a mind of our own apart from God, as the carnal mind would have us believe, but that in our real being we reflect divine Mind. This being so, we are in reality the ever-active, ever-joyous, healthy, and beloved children of God.

Humility is that quality which knows man as always at one with divine Mind. Our Master said, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."

As students of Christian Science, we need to have patience with ourselves in learning to "cherish humility," for the carnal mind continually suggests to us that as busy workers we have too much to do, and that it will be impossible for us to accomplish certain tasks in the time at our disposal.

Here we need very definitely to affirm the truth about the situation in order to save ourselves from being tricked into egotistical thinking. On page 119 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy tells us that man is "but the humble servant of the restful Mind." Therefore, we must learn to reflect the ever-active and restful Mind. So shall we prove that whatever is necessary for us to do, we are enabled to do when the need arises.

There is no rush or hurry in divine Mind; all is orderly unfoldment. Therefore, as we see man as Mind's reflection, we shall express right activity in confident and quiet restfulness. With our thought abiding in God's love we realize the presence of Mind, and are then enabled freely to do whatever needs to be done in our church work, home, workshop, office, or school.

Working in this way, we shall find our days full of spontaneous, joyful activity, and be able to accomplish far more than seemed possible before we learned this lesson.

Through cherishing humility we shall become serene, poised, and calm, thereby proving that we are divinely controlled. Instead of feeling burdened, we shall learn that our burdens are lifted by seeing our true self as His reflection, and that His love is expressed to and through all His ideas.

As we "cherish humility" we gain a wonderful sense of Mind's ever-presence, and of our ability to express joyful activity through reflecting divine Mind.

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