Article September 16, 1950 Issue

PLACE PREPARED OF THE FATHER

RAYMOND S. MARSH

IN the twentieth chapter of Matthew it is recorded that when the mother of Zebedee's children asked Jesus, "Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom," the Master answered her in the following words: "To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."

There is no doubt that worldly ambition and selfishness had much to do with the unusual request of this mother. However, she must have glimpsed the heavenly glory that accompanies the presence of the Christ to have asked that these two exalted places be given to her children. But since man's place is spiritual and individual, inseparable from and dependent on God, we attain it as our thought is dedicated to the service of God. Our reward is in proportion to our honesty and our fidelity to Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, states in her book "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 70), "Each individual must fill his own niche in time and eternity." Then it is possible here and now for all of us to find our place in God's loving plan for His children. One may ask just how he is to improve his present consciousness of place and overcome the many obstructions and frustrations that seem to beset him at every turn. He must begin with the correct concept of God as the loving Father, who "knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:8). As this fact is understood and accepted, fear, strife, competition, and limitation are destroyed and more harmonious surroundings are manifested.

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