The Bible, that precious book which has come down through the years as a guide and inspiration for all mankind, admonishes us to look to God with joyous expectancy for the attainment of good, and good alone, in all our human experiences.

When Christ Jesus came to the place where his friend Lazarus had been buried, it was with assurance and joyous expectancy born of his intimate knowledge of the Father's goodness that he lifted up his eyes and said (John 11:41), "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me," and commanded, "Lazarus, come forth." No doubt there, no uncertainty, but the confident expectancy that the operation of God's law would be made manifest at that very moment and in that very place. "And he that was dead came forth." This demonstration for his friend was preparatory to the great problem soon to confront him on the cross and in the tomb, and which he solved so gloriously.

One of the most gratifying experiences of those connected with Christian Science Camp Welfare Activities during World War II was the steadfast expectancy of good entertained by numerous young service men and women reared in Christian Science. They expected that the truth they had been taught in their homes and in Christian Science Sunday Schools would meet their every need in their conversion from civilians to military man and women. They accepted the truth of the statement made by Mary Baker Eddy in the first sentence of the Preface to the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings."

Theirs was not a blind faith, but a firm conviction that God is the creator of man and that He is the protector of those who call upon Him in righteous undertakings. Their expectation of good stemmed from the knowledge that every idea of God is forever at one with the Father and that nothing but good can come to one who knows this.

One of the numerous instances of the joyous expectancy of good by these young students of Christian Science is the case of an Army air cadet who one day was awaiting the scheduled arrival at the field of the Christian Science Wartime Minister. He joyfully ran up to the Minister's car, stating, "I am so glad you are here, because if you had not come, I should have been compelled to report to sick call." The young cadet was manifesting all the symptoms of influenza. Through the Minister's prayerful metaphysical work and his own earnest co-operation, he was quickly healed. Like the woman who touched the hem of the Master's garment, he had expected good to come from his contact with this experienced Christian Science worker who, he was sure, would know the truth which would heal the discordant condition.

This young cadet, while not yet fully understanding how to demonstrate the truth for himself, at any rate might have said in the words of the Apostle Paul (Phil. 1:19,20), I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that .... now also Christ shall be magnified in my body." He knew that the healing Christ, Truth, could be manifested in him, revealing harmony—his true selfhood— and freeing him from anything calling itself influenza or any other illusion of mortal mind.

It is worthy of note that many of these young students came with the spiritual assurance and expectancy that a complete and permanent healing would take place. As students of Christian Science they knew that God's idea inherits only good and has never been deprived of anything; that divine justice cannot be withheld from man; that there is but one cause, and that cause is God. They were confident that these facts could be demonstrated in their own experience right where they were.

Right expectancy means looking forward to, awaiting, or claiming mentally that which is our divine right and which therefore is inevitable. It is not blind faith. It is the acknowledgment of the absolute supremacy of divine Love. It is faith with works. It may be likened to the faith of the centurion whose humble confidence in Jesus' ability and willingness to heal his servant was recognized and commended by the Master in the words (Matt.8: 10): "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Finally, it is the spiritual understanding of God, the scientific knowledge of God's allness and of man's relation thereto, which heals instantly, whether this may be our own understanding or the spiritual understanding of another.

All good belongs to man as God's reflection. If we but acknowledge and persist in this truth, we shall prove what the wise man said (Prov. 24:14), "So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off." God's promise, as given in the Bible and as interpreted by Christian Science, is that man's heritage is wisdom, harmony, joy, inspiration, discernment, loveliness, assurance, and God-ordered activity. No counterfeits of these qualities are for a moment any part of one's real selfhood. Was not man created in God's own image and likeness, given dominion, and then pronounced good by his creator?

It is with expectancy, then, the expectancy of everything good, that we take up work in Christian Science ourselves or call upon a Christian Science practitioner. It matters not what may be the nature of the problem. Our steadfast expectancy that God's ever-present and ever-operative law of harmony will be made manifest in our experience is in itself a healing agent. On page 426 of the textbook we find the statement, "When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress." When our destination is the unselfed desire to prove man's spiritual heritage of freedom and dominion, and our expectancy is untinged with doubt, progress in the right direction is certain.

The expectancy of good brings hope in the dark hours of human experience. The consciousness that is most expectant of good is most receptive of good. So let us with joy lift our hearts in the "songs of expectation" which are referred to in Hymn No.351 in the Christian Science Hymnal: