POWER ACCOMPANIES CHEERFULNESS

ELLA H. HAY

Many have witnessed the ameliorative effect of good cheer in dispelling discouragement, sorrow, and fear. However, the cheerfulness which has a lasting effect in lifting men from despair is not merely a philosophical acceptance of evil as unescapable and hence to be borne cheerfully. The cheerfulness that evidences power is a spiritual understanding of God's nature and the positive acknowledgment of His supremacy.

God made all, as the Bible states. Reasoning from a spiritual basis, we see that since God is good, His creation also must be good. Therefore evil of every type is actually unreal, an illusion, counterfeiting God and His universe, including man.

Few would have the temerity to deny this fact; yet men are not always practical in demonstrating the power of divine Love in daily experience. We need to follow faithfully in the footsteps of him who through his abundant expression of Christ, the true idea of God, walked on the water, fed the multitudes, cleansed the leper, raised the dead, and stilled the tempest. Christ Jesus gloriously exemplified the real man, ever endowed with the divine nature or Christ and ever manifesting health, vigor, peace, and security.

The definition of God given in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, shows the all-inclusiveness of Love and its manifestation and makes clear the impossibility of an opposite force or entity. The definition reads as follows (p. 587): "God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence."

One who bases his thinking on the perfection of God and of man is naturally cheerful, and he progresses steadily in his ability to utilize divine power in overcoming discord of every type in his own experience and in helping others. Keeping Christ active in consciousness is a cheerful and good business and brings abundance and success. These thought-provoking words are recorded in the book of Nehemiah (8:10): "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

One who looks to divine Love for joy or cheer instead of to changing material conditions does not ignore evil, but he progressively expresses increased alertness in recognizing its wholly spurious nature. He rejects error as illusion, ghostlike in character and subject to immediate dispelling through an understanding of the truth.

Mrs. Eddy points out the folly of looking to matter for joy or for any good thing. She writes (Science and Health, p. 57): "Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, goodness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it."

Men are quick to recognize the strengthening effect of true joy manifested in their associates and to enquire as to its source. The Psalmist said (5:11), "Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee."

Cheerfulness born of spiritual understanding has great value in daily experience. One who habitually expresses what Nehemiah named "the joy of the Lord" faces problems of daily life calmly. As master and not as slave, he rejects apathy, fear, indifference, and discouragement.

If detours from the road of harmony occur in his experience, he continues his forward journey and proves the ever-presence of divine Principle, Love, through renewed health, harmony, and happy relationships in home, school, business, church, and the world. He is likely to use as his theme song (Matt. 6: 13), "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."

Consecrated study and practice of Christian Science enable the Student to reject promptly and conclusively the testimony of the senses and to see that all is well regardless of sense testimony to the contrary. Steadfast insistence on the fact that there is but one Mind, without a single element of error, leads to the demonstration of divine Principle, Love, in daily experience. And genuine cheerfulness, based on the perfection of God and man, imbues the individual with power.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit