Article September 16, 1939 Issue

"Give place"

FRANCES M. PRAY

A certain ruler once came to Christ Jesus, saying, "My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." We read that the Master, entering the ruler's house, found "the minstrels and the people making a noise." He turned to them and said, "Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." When Jesus had sent them all away, he went in to where the ruler's daughter lay, "and took her by the hand, and the maid arose."

Today, though Jesus no longer moves in our midst, the healing Christ is among us still. Do we "give place" for the Christ? Do not our fears and anxieties often crowd closely around a suffering relative or friend? Christ, Truth, is even now saying to us: Give place; man cannot suffer; his being is perfect. Do we heed the voice? Or are we so blinded by anxiety and fear that we continue to believe in the reality of sickness and so disregard Christ's message as completely as did the people of old who scorned Jesus' words, believing Jairus' daughter to be dead? All our troubled thoughts must be put away; place must be made for spiritual truth. Thus does the Christ reach the sufferer, healing him as Jesus healed the ruler's daughter.

Perhaps it is our sense of personal responsibility that is keeping the truth from reaching another. Are we asserting our personal opinions as to what he should do or how he should prosper? The responsibility is not ours. Christ, Truth, says, "This is the way, walk ye in it." When we plant a seed, we make sure that it has ample rich soil and plenty of sunlight. We do not dig up the earth each day to see how it is growing. We do not pull the young stem this way and that when it is at last above the ground, or force the buds apart before they open naturally into their full beauty. Mrs. Eddy writes (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 111), "Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propagates." We can trust God to take care of each of His children. Each individual needs mental space, free and unobstructed, that he may hear and obey the Christ-message. Our part is to watch that we reflect in all our ways the sunlight of God's love.

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