Article August 2, 1947 Issue

FRUITFUL WAITING

ANNA STANTON LAY

Many human beings miss the rightful joys of the moment by fixing their desire and attention on the hoped-for future possession of some material thing or condition. Some, in the apathetic and wishful fashion of a certain Dickens character, wait "for something to turn up;" others consume their days in the sly waiting of ignoble purpose, or perhaps in feverish, fearful working. All such waiting and working is far from that fruitful waiting on the Lord made possible today through the understanding of Christian Science, which reveals the God who is Love to be All-in-all.

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed," counseled the Psalmist (Ps. 37:3). And he continued (verse 7), "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." Such waiting on God is joyous with expectation and radiant with gratitude. When Isaiah wrote (40:31), "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint," he described the spiritually mental metamorphosis which results from Christianly scientific thinking whereby a time period called waiting becomes an unfolding revelation of reality. When one recognizes the ever-presence and all-power of good, one realizes that only the unfolding of the purposes of this infinite good can take place.

Christian Science teaches us to view the disturbing allegations of impatience, restlessness, and lack as suggestions of mortal mind or of what the Apostle Paul named "the carnal mind," the mistaken whisperings of a dream sense. Christian Science also teaches that in reality the only voice that speaks to man is the voice of God, infinite Mind, divine Love, Truth. Truth voices itself to men in spiritual ideas which, to paraphrase the Psalmist, restore their soul, or spiritual sense. Through spiritual sense men become aware of God-given strength, courage, abundance, beauty, intelligence, peace, and good will as available now.

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