Article May 15, 1954 Issue

VISION AND ENDURANCE

ELOISE PATTILLO HENDRICK

On a certain well-known scenic route in the western part of the United States, the train traveler passes through a series of tunnels, some long, some short, some quite similar to others; but eventually the train takes one into uninterrupted sunlight again.

Once a Christian Scientist who had traveled over this route found in it a helpful analogy to an illness which had lingered over a long period. Up to that time, healings through Christian Science treatment had been effected quickly, if not instantaneously. In this case there seemed to be periods of freedom followed by recurring attacks of the difficulty. It was exceedingly helpful in handling the temptations of depression and discouragement to remember that even when the series of tunnels seemed interminable and repetitious, progress was being made, and ultimately the uninterrupted light was visible. So it was in the case of illness. Such a perfect and complete healing came about that the suffering and all the details of the illness were erased from thought. It was a decisive proof that man, as God's idea, is forever untouched by a claim of imperfection.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy, in commenting upon the possibility of perceiving man's present perfection, observes with characteristic compassion (p. 573): "Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away." Because of the basic teaching of Christian Science that God is the only Life and substance and that man's identity is perfect and intact, one can demonstrate poise and spiritual stamina in the face of the most trying difficulty.

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