Every day is harmonious when we welcome it as God's gift and know that all its experiences are governed by His love. Disturbance and pressure may impose upon our days when we try to plan them through human will. Yielding to Love's guidance, pausing often in our activities to listen for the divine voice which says (Isa. 30:21), "This is the way, walk ye in it," silences human will and opens the door wide for us to receive the blessings our Father purposes for each day.

A willingness to be used by God in the fulfillment of His holy purpose is true listening and keeps us alert to His commands and ready to obey them.

It was because Ananias had such an attitude that he was God's willing instrument in accomplishing Saul's awakening from spiritual blindness to the consciousness of the Christ-light. When God called Ananias for this mission, his ready response was (Acts 9:10), "Behold, I am here, Lord." His faithful listening to the voice of God silenced his fear and condemnation of Saul's evil reputation. He obeyed God's command and took His holy message of comfort and enlightenment to Saul, ready even to address him as "Brother Saul."

In an earlier period of Scriptural history Samuel too had been ready to serve in obedience to the voice of God, and his life became a holy ministry of spiritual leadership to his people. His first step on this hallowed path was his response to God's call when, as a child, he answered (I Sam. 3:10), "Speak; for thy servant heareth."

Mary Baker Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," tells us (p. 458), "Semper paratus is Truth's motto." It is the watchword of all of Truth's faithful followers and was clearly exemplified in our Leader's life of holy service. The needs of suffering humanity found generous response in her great love, and her life was a constant expression of self-sacrifice and a tireless outpouring of healing truth.

Jesus, feeling great compassion for the multitude burdened with ignorance and suffering, told his disciples that a plenteous harvest was ready, but that there was need for more laborers to gather it. When we read this plea, do we ask of God: "What would You have me do? What is my part in bringing in this harvest?" Or do we have some human plan that at a later, more convenient time we shall be ready to work in His fields? Have we a preconceived outline that some day, when the family is grown or we have enough income to live on, or some other human situation seems propitious, we may become practitioners of Christian Science? Or are we ready, in the spirit of Samuel and Ananias, to say wholeheartedly, "I am here, Lord"—ready today actively to use our understanding of His law in working out our own salvation and to do everything His wisdom requires of us to share in meeting the world's needs?

Do we sometimes find ourselves in a group of people who are mesmerized with the belief that evil is interesting? Are our companions obviously forgetting the standard given by Paul in his statement (Phil. 3:20), "Our conversation is in heaven"? Instead of joining in the rehearsal of evil, instead of passively allowing the idle talk to float on, we should be so roused by this challenge that we take an active, radical mental stand which says: "Here I am, Lord, ready to be Your witness, alert to put the weight of my thought and words on the side of good and thus outweigh evil's pretense to be either powerful or interesting."

Are we faced with an accident or some other emergency which looks almost overwhelming? Instead of feeling very small and inadequate in a situation which seems to be such a large evil, let us turn our thoughts to God, saying, "Here am I, Lord, the representation of Your power and wisdom and love." Let us be ready to use our understanding of God's law to meet the needs of the experience, confident of the dominion given us by our creator. Thus we obey our Leader's demand (Pulpit and Press, p. 3), "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love."

Have we been called upon to comfort and encourage a friend, and are we letting ourselves be crippled by a false self-consciousness and timidity, fearing that we might not be wise enough to handle well so delicate a situation? Then may the angel voice speaking as man's consciousness say: "I am here, Father, and I am the very evidence that infinite Love is present and expressed, and that its gentleness, compassion, and tender intuition are here, actively meeting the needs of all its children. Here am I—the evidence that God is expressing in man His infinite wisdom and capacity for being and doing good."

We read in Science and Health (p. 571), "Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil." His wisdom is eternal; hence it is always available.

As we become aware of the spiritual hunger of humanity and the great need for messengers to help mankind to comprehend the allness and goodness of God, let us echo the words of Isaiah (6:8): "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." The readiness to offer oneself, to say joyously, "Here am I; send me," is true humility, so forgetful of false material selfhood and its limitations that it can trust completely God's ability to express His power and right activity everywhere.

Words from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 324) should ring through our days: