"Can you take care of yourself?"

Violet Ker Seymer

Individual demonstration is the keynote of progress in Christian Science. In fact, there cannot be any marked or sustained progress without continuous individual demonstration of the power of God and the truth of Christian Science. Each proof of our own unfolding spiritual understanding stabilizes our sense of oneness with God and multiplies our confidence.

Christ Jesus said to his disciples, whom he had carefully taught, and before whom he had fully demonstrated the healing power of God, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." Why was it "expedient" for the disciples that their beloved Master should leave them? Perhaps because he realized their need to turn directly to God through Christ, as he did. His further saying is recorded in the sixteenth chapter of John, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." The disciples, and doubtless also the early Christian workers, developed their faith and understanding by utilizing them to the full.

In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 39) we find this question and answer: "Can you take care of yourself? God giveth to every one this puissance; and I have faith in His promise, 'Lo, I am with you alway'—all the way." This eloquent reply brings confidence to one who loyally accepts it and sets to work to demonstrate his own understanding of divine Principle.

Students of Christian Science living in outposts where they can have no contact with others of their faith, are valiantly proving the healing presence and power of divine Love in testing times. They are demonstrating the truth of our Leader's statement (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 61): "God is everywhere. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard;' and this voice is Truth that destroys error and Love that casts out fear."

Since God, infinite Love, is everywhere, infinite Love is actually reflected everywhere. The presence of divine Love realized, banishes fear and its consequences. "God is no respecter of persons," and certainly no respecter of the evidence of material sense. The omniscient divine Mind knows and imparts only harmony, and this omniscient good with its harmony is present to be demonstrated everywhere, even under trying conditions.

In the universe of divine Mind no idea is forgotten, unwanted, or isolated; nowhere is the despairing cry heard, "No man cared for my soul." Our spiritual sense abides in Soul, and wherever and however we find ourselves, the faculties of Soul are present to bring us without stint or delay the needed spiritual illumination. God "hath shewed his people the power of his works."

A temptation to lean unduly on Christian Science practitioners may come to the student of Christian Science who lives in a community where there are numerous workers ready to respond to calls for help. Our revered Leader wisely points out that where there is a pressing need of help one should beware of reluctance in asking for it. But those who have studied Christian Science for years should be on guard against the tendency to lean unduly, and perhaps lazily, upon the spiritual understanding of practitioners, and thereby fail to develop their own understanding. The "Comforter" and "Spirit of truth" is just as surely at hand for us today as it was for the Master's disciples long ago, and for the very early students of Christian Science, in whom direct, not vicarious, dependence on God developed moral and spiritual fiber.

One who in his hour of need turns directly to God and to his books with full faith in the reward, finds his understanding and his courage increased, human situations adjusted, and harmony restored to both mind and body. Should he need to persevere in declaring and demonstrating the spiritual truth of being, the power of divine Principle will be his unfailing support.

Our Leader writes (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 86), "No one can save himself without God's help, and God will help each man who performs his own part." To know and prove that infinite Mind is inseparable from its infinite and harmonious manifestation is the sure way to demonstrate God's tender care for all His creation. Nothing has ever harmed man in the image and likeness of God, and there is no other real man. Even the most insistent suggestions or arguments of fear, inadequate understanding, and so forth, are silenced as we acknowledge the spiritual fact that God is All-in-all, and that our consciousness, illumined by the revelation of Christian Science, is included in this allness. Again and again Christian Scientists, at all stages of growth and experience, have proved for themselves the value of Peter's words, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Nothing is so deeply reassuring, so comforting and strengthening, as the demonstration by which we have been able to take care of ourselves through knowing that "God giveth to every one this puissance."

Violet Ker Seymer

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Among the Churches

December 25, 1937

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