Article January 12, 1952 Issue

THE FLORAL APOSTLES

LESLIE C. BELL

Most people love flowers, and Mary Baker Eddy was no exception. She loved nature and the beauty of tree and flower, and she perceived spiritually the divine facts which they symbolize. At an Easter service Mrs. Eddy spoke of them, and her words are recorded in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 179): "These flowers are floral apostles. God does all this through His followers; and He made every flower in Mind before it sprang from the earth: yet we look into matter and the earth to give us these smiles of God!"

With equal love of beauty in the understanding that all good comes from God and is spiritual. Christian Scientists value flowers. How many going to the office of a Christian Science practitioner have had their thought uplifted by a bowl of flowers there! In many Christian Science churches flowers are arranged, expressing visibly the color, form, and fragrance of the ideas they represent. These "smiles of God" serve to cheer and gladden, though not having undue prominence and so distracting thought from the importance of the Word of Truth.

To many the world over the growing of flowers and the cultivation of gardens are an important means of livelihood, and the truths taught in Christian Science are as practically available in this sphere of activity as in every other field of human endeavor. True metaphysical work, or prayer, brings about beneficial results in gardening just as much as in any other type of business, because prayer purifies thought, and this spiritualization permeates all the minutiae of human affairs.

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