"THE HARMONY OF HEALTH"

KATHRYN PAULSON

Mary Baker Eddy, the beloved Leader, as well as Discoverer and Founder, of Christian Science, was compassionately aware of mankind's needs, and throughout her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," we find clear rules for healing whatever phase of inharmony claims to exist. One of these has stood out to the writer in sharp definition of the "how" and "when" of healing (ibid., p. 400): "Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine Mind, and abandon their material beliefs."

Most of us would avow our complete willingness to "forsake discord," but what we sometimes mean is that we would like discord to forsake us—painlessly, quickly, and with as little effort as possible on our part! However, as we progress in our study of Christian Science, it becomes increasingly clear that inharmony is not a material thing, but a mental concept that we have accepted, and we are responsible for its seeming presence and continuance.

Self-will, resentment, impatience, and the like are so many ropes that bind us to, rather than free us from, inharmony. Impatience is the quality displayed by the unfaithful servant in Jesus' parable who thought, "My lord delayeth his coming," and so began to "smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken" (Matt. 24:48, 49). Impatience is akin to self-will that would set a time limit for healing and then, drunk with resentment, belabor all within reach when it is not fulfilled. But none of these mental qualities are natural to man, the real man, who is spiritually created, constituted, and governed; they are only false creations of mortal mind, which will begin to disappear the instant that we express the healing qualities of meekness, gratitude, patience, and love. This is not a difficult task when we realize that our true selfhood, which is the reflection of God, can show forth no other than these.

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