Editorial August 29, 1942 Issue

Active Rest

Evelyn F. Heywood

Unrest is always the outcome of some phase of fear. In the atmosphere of Soul, where every idea is active, directed by the laws of unfoldment and expression which govern its being, the agitation of hurry, of anxiety, of strain, of pressure, is unknown. Something of this may be glimpsed in the contemplation of nature on a calm summer day—the sun and the birds, the trees, the flowers, the bees on their systematic, unhurried quest, the flowing river, the gentle breeze, all are performing their individual essential task in the ordered perfection of the whole. Man, governed, equipped of Mind, possessed of spiritual dominion, of divine intelligence, beholds and expresses the everlasting peaceful unfoldment of being.

"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," said Jesus. There is no sudden, unexpected, unrelated task! Always, whatever the work that men are called upon to do in the line of duty and usefulness, they can remind themselves of the "hitherto" which precedes and directs them, of the love which inspires and controls them. No quality of Mind that is required, no courage, no call for endurance, for initiative, for resourcefulness, has not its "hitherto" in the history of the forever availability of Mind. And we know what is the source, the nature of that work, what are its outstanding characteristics, for on page 519 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes, "God rests in action." She has not left it there, however, lest mankind should continue to conceive of its own human activity as something which must be carried on in strain and irresolution, in disquiet and vacillation, because it does not partake of the nature of the divine. She continues, "The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work."

And all work which men undertake, however outwardly immaterial or indeed material it may seem to be, is holy if they bring to bear upon it the qualities of Mind, if in the doing of it they know that not in the deed, but in the concept of service are exaltation and reward.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

"How that the blind see, ... the deaf hear"