Article December 2, 1950 Issue

JOY IN ATHLETICS

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

ELIZABETH K. BRISCOE

God , of whom man is the image and likeness, includes all action and is the source of all joy. Therefore joyous activity is an indigenous part of our being. Athletics afford us an opportunity to express this joyous activity and to put into practice the truths that we learn in Christian Science.

One of these truths is that man is the idea, the likeness, of God, Spirit. Since man is the idea of Spirit, he is spiritual and cannot be composed of muscles, bones, or matter in any form. Mary Baker Eddy states it in these words: "The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 475).

This truth annuls the belief that movement is dependent on material muscles. Material action is not always joyous, for everything mortal had its cramping, joy-killing limitations. Material law would say that unaccustomed activity, no matter how much joy is gained from participating in it, will produce aching limbs. Man, the spiritual idea of God, beholding himself in the likeness of his Maker, is not even conscious of matter—stiff, aching, or otherwise. One knowing this through Science looks to divine Mind, the source of all action, and not to muscle, to move him. Because Mind is infinite, it knows no limitations, and therefore its action is unlabored, unfettered, tireless, and free.

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