A Student very young in the study of Christian Science was sitting one afternoon on a pier overlooking the waters of a lagoon, when her attention was arrested by what appeared to be two birds motionless on the sands in the distance. When a sudden strong gust of wind sprang up, both began to stir. The one with a restless, uncertain movement was soon seen to be a lifeless piece of paper that was quickly engulfed in the rising tide. The other, with sure, free flight, rose above the encroaching waters and, skimming joyously above them, showed forth its living identity untouched by the disturbed elements around it.

The student was grateful for the lesson learned from this simple incident. She had been earnestly seeking to distinguish between false human concepts and true spiritual ideas, and here was a practical illustration. In our everyday experience we are repeatedly faced with the need to make a choice between the real and the unreal, and there are times when the correct decision regarding two courses of action may not at first appear clear or easy to make because of the pull of selfish human will.

How are we to know the right way and follow it when from the standpoint of human thinking this way may seem vague or else too difficult to follow? This is the time to wait patiently until the winds of God reveal to us the real.

On page 597 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy defines wind, in part, as "that which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things." When in sincerity and humility we are willing to acknowledge the might of omnipotence and the impotence of merely material planning, we yield to God's spiritual government. Then the listening heart hears the voice of divine Love saying (Isa. 30:21), "This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Freed from doubt or hesitancy, we shall not only know the way but follow it gladly. Thus, like the bird that rose above the waves, we are able to rise joyously above the confusion of material thinking into the surety of knowing the peace and confidence of Mind's eternal presence.

This lesson has on more than one occasion proved of inestimable value to the writer. Once there came a time in her experience when it was expedient to find a new home. At first she was tempted to resort to human planning; to outline the type of home requisite and the locality that would be suitable. Then came the assurance that here was clearly an opportunity to wait till the winds of God revealed the right course to take. She recalled the Bible verse (Ps. 62:5), "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." To do otherwise, she realized, would only result in her being engulfed in the disturbed waters of material sense.

There was but one way to proceed, and that was to place herself unreservedly under God's government. This she did, and the sense of uncertainty vanished before the buoyant conviction of the spiritual nature of man's home. A clearer grasp of the meaning of home enabled her to rise above the restless elements of material planning and brought a sense of calm and a willingness to wait on God. Then one day a definite urge came to take the human footsteps that were pointed out, and within a few hours she found a home which was entirely suitable—one, in fact, which expressed more of the abundance of good than she would have dared to outline humanly. This home has been a great blessing for many years.

Far more valuable than the material home, however, was the revelation that came to her waiting thought of man's true, spiritual home. Man is forever at home in the consciousness of God's great love. The child of God is always in the tender care of his loving Father-Mother, and nothing that "defileth, ... or maketh a lie," can enter the sacred sanctuary of Spirit, in which he forever dwells. Wherever divine Mind is reflected, intelligence and wisdom are expressed, and the awareness of the divine economy of being is a natural corollary, freeing one from limitation and frustration. To be at home is to express one's real identity and to know the peace, joy, health, power, harmony, rest, freedom, security, and completeness of one's true consciousness, which is the expression of Soul.

Yes! There is only one way by which to distinguish between the true and the false, and this way is revealed to us in the treasured teachings of Christian Science.

Our dear Leader encourages us with the persuasiveness of true wisdom. She writes (Science and Health, p. 201): "Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us." Willingness to disrobe error, that is, to see its powerlessness in whatever guise it may try to present itself, enables us to drop the tatters of human planning and hurried action and really to understand that God is governing all His ideas, which remain inviolate and utterly secure from the vagaries of time and sense.

With the patience born of spiritual understanding we can disrobe error and joyously acknowledge the perfection of God's spiritual government and of man in His image and likeness, dwelling forever in the realm of Spirit in complete harmony and eternal freedom. We can feel the touch of angels and hear the silent benediction of our beloved Leader in her article entitled

"Angels" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 306), "Oh, may you feel this touch,—it is not the clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more than this: it is a spiritual idea that lights your path!"