WHAT IS COMPANIONSHIP?

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

JEWEL FEWKES

TO find the right answer to any question, we must start with God. In the teachings of Christian Science we find seven synonyms for God which make very clear His all-inclusiveness. We learn that God is Love and Principle; that there-fore love is the fulfilling of the law. We learn that God is Soul, which satisfies completely.

When we turn our attention to man, we learn that he is God's image and therefore includes all good. Man thus understood could never be without God or outside of His love. Man is of necessity whole, complete.

A dictionary defines "companionship" in part as "association." Ask yourself: "What kind of ideas am I associating with? Is my thinking filled to overflowing with thoughts of joy and peace and gratitude?" These are not lonely concepts, and the individual expressing them could not possibly be lonely, for he possesses within his own consciousness the means of happiness.

Mary Baker Eddy asks the following question in "Science and Health with Key Scriptures" (p. 266): "Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank?" She continues, "Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love."

Have we anything for which to be grateful? The testimonies given weekly in the Wednesday meetings in Churches of Christ, Scientist, and those published in the Christian Science periodicals show how many of us answer this query with a resounding Yes. Divine Love makes us grateful. There is a verse in Psalms which says (68:11), "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it." Then think of how many companions we have! By expressing our gratitude for God's great goodness, we join the company of those throughout the world who have been blessed by Christian Science.

The writer had an experience which brought out very clearly a fundamental point. She had begun to take part in activities with a group of like-minded young people. After the first one or two gettogethers she felt she had not had as good a time as she had anticipated. Thinking over what had taken place on these occasions, she realized that before leaving for the activity she had considered just one thing: what would she get out of it? And she remembered too some of her thoughts while at these gatherings—resentment at not being given enough attention, doubt that the others liked her. Then she began to see why she had felt a lack of friendliness: she had been thinking only of what she could get.

She went to the next meeting resolved to give to the fullest. Her training in the Christian Science Sunday School had taught her that in so doing she and all those about her would be blessed. Soon after arriving, she saw someone sitting alone. She went directly to this individual, sat down next to her, and began a conversation. Several opportunities presented themselves during the evening for the writer to reach out a helping hand to someone. On reaching home that night she realized with deep gratitude that it had been one of the happiest evenings she had ever spent.

As we express the qualities of Soul, God, such as grace, heavenly-mindedness, peace, we cannot help attracting right companionship. This companionship will become a natural and permanent part of our experience. We can never lack it or lose it.

Man can never be alone, for he is ever at one with God and His ideas. Knowing that God's goodness precludes everything unlike Himself and that God includes and imparts all bliss, we can rejoice in the certainty that, as we read in the book of Daniel (4:3), "his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom."

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