Article April 29, 1950 Issue

LEAN WITH UNDERSTANDING

JOAN HENLEY

"To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." Many who have read this opening sentence in the Preface to the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, have felt secure and comforted by this promise.

A student of Christian Science was pondering this inspired statement one day and thought, "But this is more than just a promise; it is an invariable fact." She saw, however, that there is work to be done before we reap the blessings. There is a specific condition to be fulfilled: we have to "lean." That, she thought, certainly does not sound as though it requires much effort. To lean does not seem to imply activity at all, but rather a passive state of thought. But it would be inconceivable that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science should exhort her students to anything but right activity. Moreover, the student reasoned, passiveness could not possibly result in blessings.

The interest of the student was now aroused, and she prayerfully began to consider the sentence. As she did so, a simple illustration came to her. A wall typifies solidity, stability As long as one chooses to lean against it, he expects it to support him. The mental attitude of expectancy of good is a requisite in our leaning on God. Expectancy is an active quality and implies a joyful anticipation of blessings, which are eternally at hand.

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