WORRY, timidity, and dismay betoken fear that one cannot do things which others find easy. Inability to speak in public, hesitancy in accepting new tasks, selfdisparagement, are a few examples of diffidence with which we are familiar and which take much from the joy of living. The usual cause of them is that one feels he is alone and unsupported, that there is no one he can look to for aid.

In this, one is entirely mistaken. Always he has God ! As the Psalmist said (Ps. 46:1), "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Lacking that assurance which consciousness of the divine presence brings, we may be afraid of the opinion of others, afraid of ourselves, afraid even to live. The knowledge, together with the firm conviction, that God is everywhere present and always available is the needed remedy. It dispels our fear and gives us confidence.

Mary Baker Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 89), "We are all capable of more than we do." But to demonstrate the truth of this statement, we must dare to exhibit our real selfhood as God's representative or reflection. To do this creditably, we must first have a clear concept of the true nature of God, of whom man is the expression. Until we know God aright, we shall never understand God's presence.

Only when human, material sense is rejected as unreal can we know the true meaning of God's ever-presence. When we have cleared materiality from thought, thus enabling ourselves to take a spiritual view of things, our human problems are solved and healings take place. There is nothing physical or material about the divine healing presence, because God is Spirit.

Mrs. Eddy makes this truth clear in the opening words of her wellloved poem entitled "The Mother's Evening Prayer" (Poems, p. 4). In this poem our Leader stresses the spiritual qualities of strength, harmony, and comfort, which testify to God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-harmonious Love. Christian Science teaches that because God is all-powerful, He can strengthen us in our weakness; because He is all-wise, He can guide us through any tortuous paths; because He is Love, He can heal our sorrows and our fears.

Christian Science also reveals that since God is Spirit and hence infinite, He is always and everywhere present and thus is ever available to help one in his need, whatever it may be. Of this grand fact, the writer has had many proofs.

At one time, while repairing his roof in an emergency, he found himself precariously balanced on the narrow ceiling joists, carrying a heavy plank on his shoulder. With one hand he held his load, and with the other he clung to the rafters above. One slip would have caused grave damage and would probably have crippled him. Fearing a collapse, he called for help. But there was no one within hearing. He was alone!

Just then, however, up through the trap door came wafting, in a familiar mezzo-soprano, those remembered words from Mrs. Eddy's poem acknowledging the gentle presence of God, His joy, His peace, and His power. They brought quick reassurance, and the writer corrected his thought at once. He remembered that he was not alone. God was with him.

Now to consciousness came words of encouragement from a well-known hymn with its grand message (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 123),

Just as the truth which Christ Jesus taught must be known and adhered to in order to make and keep men free, so the presence of God must be known, understood, and consistently kept in thought if we are to benefit fully from it.

The student of Christian Science knows that God is ever present. He knows this from the very nature of God as Spirit. Mrs. Eddy's spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, found in Science and Health, reminds the student of God's presence especially her words which follow "Thy kingdom come" (p. 16), "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present."

So long as one is actively aware of this truth, he is safe and secure. With God at hand, no task can overtax him, no accident can befall him, no sickness can rob him of his divine right to health and happiness.

There are times, however, when, like clouds temporarily obscuring the sun, mortal mind would usurp the stage and, using the false testimony of eye and ear and nerve, would beguile one into believing that God has left him alone and unaided. But this is never so. As the sun, permanent and inextinguishable, reappears and disperses the mist, so God's presence, once established and confirmed as real in the individual's consciousness, asserts itself and disperses error. God, who is Spirit, and man, who is God's spiritual expression, are inseparable. Then, not even temporarily can God cease to be present with man, nor can man cease to be present with God.

Our Leader tells us in Science and Health (p. 306) : "If Life or Soul and its representative, man, unite for a period and then are separated as by a law of divorce to be brought together again at some uncertain future time and in a manner unknown, — and this isthe general religious opinion of mankind, — we are left without a rational proof of immortality. But man cannot be separated for an instant from God, if man reflects God."

Having God, omnipotent and infinite, with him and for him, one has nothing to fear. God can do all things; and for man, consciously coexistent with and expressing God, all things are possible.