"A WAY IN THE SEA"

HELEN RANLETT TOWERS

In their journey out of Egypt under Moses' leadership, the children of Israel encamped by the Red Sea. At this point they saw the Egyptians, with their horses and chariots, pursuing them. Apparently the Israelites could not go forward, nor could they turn back, for ahead lay the water, and behind were the Egyptians.

Recognizing the futility of relying upon any human means of escape, Moses turned to God for guidance, and the command came (Ex. 14:15), "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." They obeyed, and as Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the waters divided and the people crossed on dry ground.

Obstacles not so great as the Red Sea seem to present themselves to everyone. Perhaps the one which is common to all is that of having many duties to perform and not enough time to do them. Isaiah was sure that there was a way out of all difficulties, for he had heard God's declaration (43:15, 16): "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters."

The Christ, Truth, guides in pathways made in mighty waters those who understand and trust God. A teacher of English in a public high school in a small town was told quite unexpectedly that the senior class had decided that they wanted a classbook. She had a full schedule of class teaching besides time-consuming extracurricular activities, and she was taking two courses at a university. From previous experience, she knew how much time and drudgery such a project required. She needed the Christ-idea to guide her.

Being an earnest student of Christian Science, she wasted no time in bemoaning the fact that this extra work had been assigned to her. Instead, she accepted wholeheartedly Mary Baker Eddy's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 454), "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way." She prayed for guidance, knowing, as Christian Science teaches, that Love, divine Mind, God, the source of all intelligence, would show her a way to find the pathway through this particular sea.

As she expected, a beautiful plan unfolded, a wholly novel approach for preparing a classbook. The plan was accepted by the senior class. The book was completed quickly, with no undue burden on anyone, and was satisfactory to all concerned.

When God directs a plan for accomplishing the seemingly impossible, there are always extra fragments or blessings to be gathered up and recognized. In this particular school there had been the complaint that the college division received all the honors. There were also those who said that they had always wanted to do something for their class and had never been asked to. Both these difficulties were taken care of in the plan which had been revealed to the teacher through turning to divine Mind.

Later an instructor in methods at a state teachers college was told of the plan. He was enthusiastic, because it was such an original and democratic procedure and because the students themselves, not the supervisor, had assumed the responsibility. He later asked his students at the college if they had ever heard of such a project, but none had. Thus many were impressed with the "way in the sea" that had been found.

Part of our Leader's definition of "time" reads (Science and Health, p. 595), "Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error." The teacher had an extra cause for gratitude, for she had learned in a degree that the inspiration of God, divine Love, as revealed in Christian Science overcomes the limitations imposed by a belief in time.

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