Article May 12, 1956 Issue

"ONE THING HAVE I DESIRED"

THOMAS B. HUDSON

In the twenty-seventh Psalm, David is credited with this prayer which in some form is in the heart of every sincere student of Christian Science (verse 4) : "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." Even while his heart was cherishing this desire, David must have glimpsed some-thing of the real man's oneness, or unity, with God, divine Mind, wherein every desire is already ful-filled, for he also wrote (Ps.23:1): "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," and (verse 6), "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Mary Baker Eddy explains in her interpretation of the twenty-third Psalm in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.578)that this "house of the Lord" is the consciousness of Love. Therefore that which David desired—to dwell in the consciousness of Love—is fulfilled when we realize that man in God's likeness already dwells there.

To put this truth into practice, we must first of all desire to dwell in the consciousness of Love. Instead of devoting thought to a desire for money or something else material to meet the human demands, we must change our thought and recognize that every individual, as a spiritual idea of God, dwells in Love, the only Mind, and that God is man's substance. Every one of us has as his substance those qualities or ideas of Love which, expressed, meet all obligations. Since want often seems to accompany an unfulfilled obligation, what but spiritual qualities can really satisfy the thought of the creditor?

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