

Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
DON'T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY
At one period a student of Christian Science who had received healing again and again of disease, sorrow, lack, and inharmonious human relationships, found herself facing many problems. Material arguments seemed to come thick and fast. Through much study and great effort, enlightenment would come and some progress in overcoming would be evidenced, but joyous, complete freedom, such as she had known in her early dependence upon Christian Science, was not experienced.
One day as she strove earnestly to gain further inspiration, the thought came. You take yourself too seriously. Since the thought recurred, she felt that it must have a message for her, and its meaning began to unfold. The "self" that she had been taking too seriously was in reality not her "self" at all. She had been so serious in her effort to get the erroneous thinking out of her consciousness that she had come to believe that error is. Now she saw clearly that error was not then, never had been, and never would be in true consciousness and that consequently she could, in reality, be conscious only of good; and that her actual substance was in her reflection of God, the All-in-all. As she refused to take the counterfeit "self" seriously by firmly rejecting its claims from her thinking, glorious freedom became evidenced in all the avenues of her daily experience.
Mary Baker Eddy tells us in her "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 224): "We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless action and reaction upon each other of these different atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it,—determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God."
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

March 7, 1953 issue
View Issue-
THE PRAYER OF ABSOLUTE FAITH
MARY COLE CHAPMAN
-
EXCHANGING MORTAL MIND'S PICTURES FOR DIVINE CONCEPTS
GIRARD F. BAKER
-
"HAPPINESS IS SPIRITUAL"
MABEL B. BURNHAM
-
STANDSTILL
Fanny de Groot Hastings
-
ASCENSION THROUGH AWAKENING
LESLIE BURN ANDREAE
-
DON'T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY
NEVA BROWN PETE
-
WHERE IS YOUR ALLEGIANCE?
JEAN ELSIE SANDERS
-
"STABILITY OF THY TIMES"
NATALIE G. FORCE
-
SINCERE
Benjamin Sturgis Pray
-
HUMILITY
Robert Ellis Key
-
FINDING SATISFACTION
Helen Wood Bauman
-
I am grateful for Christian Science...
Roy Edward Myers with contributions from Charlotte Myers
-
I should like to express my deep...
Dorothy Dischert
-
Mere words seem inadequate to...
Elizabeth H. Baker
-
Our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy...
Jane May Shaw
-
I am very grateful for the privilege...
Claire Putnam Douglas
-
The early healings through Christian Science...
Floyd G. Summers
-
Gratitude for the privilege of...
Lucy Elizabeth Herrick
-
My heart is overflowing with...
Alice Thomas Boling
-
I took up the study of Christian Science...
Ethel de Labertauche
-
In my childhood I attended an...
Leah Charlotte Weist
-
Signs of the Times
with contributions from Earl L. Douglass, W. J. Moris, G. Carrol Rector