Renewal
Have you ever said to a friend as part of a greeting, "What's new?"
Anything you do not know is new to you. By the same definition, however, what you do know is not new but old. Being old, it may no longer be both important and interesting. But not so are spiritual words, ideas, and usages. No matter how well you may think you know them, they are ever fresh and new and can become operative in your present experience.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, declares: "Nothing is new to Spirit. Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas." Science and Health, p. 518, 519; Nothing new is ever needed in God's creation. The original perfection of the creation remaining constant and forever unfolding in its perfection, no restoring or replacing is ever required. Having in mind, then, that that which is new is that which we do not know, we must turn to the eternal freshness of the Almighty and learn to know Him if we wish to effect a newness, a renewal or restoration. Such knowing brings restoration of health and removal of discord.
Who wouldn't like to have something renewed? Many believe they need new eyes or new ears, others a new job, a new heart, a new home, or a restored friendship or companionship. How can such desires be realized?
In beautiful Bible verses in Lamentations we read: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning." Lam. 3:22, 23; Consider the infinity of newness announced by this declaration! Since God's mercies are new every morning, all the good He has in store for us is available every morning. A clearer understanding of this would assure us that we need not wait until tomorrow, next week, or next year for a renewal or restoration of right thinking and acting and the blessings which flow from it, but rather that we may partake of bountiful blessings daily. The renewal or restoration needed can be achieved without delay. It is obtainable "every morning."
Under God's scientific renewal one need not wait even for the morning for such restoration, for the eternal God is not a partial God working part time. He is a twenty-four-hour God, constantly watching over all His children with tender mercies.
Because Joseph had some understanding of God and therefore felt close to God and relied on Him for deliverance, he was restored not only to a new life and harmonious environment after being sold into slavery but also to a position of great power and productivity. His gratitude enabled him to reflect in part the tender mercies of the Father who had saved him. Without bitterness Joseph greeted his brethren when they came down to Egypt to buy food during a famine, the same brethren who had once left him to perish in a deep pit. Joseph provided the food his brothers sought.
When the errant brothers came again to buy food, they brought with them, as Joseph had requested, his brother Benjamin, the only other son of his mother, Rachel. Joseph showered Benjamin with attentions and gifts far beyond his provision for his other brothers (see Gen. 43:34; 45:22). Perhaps this was partly because he was a full brother, but more probably because he appreciated Benjamin's higher thought-qualities. In this connection it is interesting that Mrs. Eddy in defining both Joseph and Benjamin in the Glossary of Science and Health uses phrases relating to the affections. Regarding Benjamin she speaks of "Renewal of affections." Science and Health, p. 582;
The thought of a renewing of the affections affords piercing insight into scientific restoration and renewal. Christ Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. 5:48; Obedience to this command requires that the scope of our affections be widened, that we strive to love our fellowmen in accord with the way God loves and even include those we may believe have treated us wrongly. This is not always easy to do. But the nothingness of a thought-quality expressed as injustice must be recognized, as Christian Science teaches. Infinite Mind, in its oneness of infinite good, can harbor no sense of injustice or wrong dealing. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the unlimited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as well as of mercy." Science and Health, p. 36; Joseph must have had some realization of this when his brothers met with him, enabling him to restore a right relationship with them and bring about a renewal of the normal affections.
The loving state of thought evidenced by Joseph not only restores and renews right human relationships but also restores health to the body, replacing discordant conditions with harmony.
A practical example of this was shown in the experience of a young woman who was suffering from a nervous breakdown and a heart condition, brought on by grief when her father passed on. She worked prayerfully in Christian Science and had help from a Christian Science practitioner, but for many months she was unable to engage in any physical activity. She could not attend to her household duties and could stay out of bed but for short periods. The practitioner worked constantly to show the young woman she must not only lift up her thought through scientific prayer but remove it from herself and her troubles through overcoming self love and by endeavoring to express more love for others.
Some time later the girl's mother remarried and moved halfway across the state. Because of her physical condition it seemed impossible for the girl to travel to see her mother. She was very desirous of making a visit because she knew how much her mother longed for her to come. Finally her desire to express love for her mother prompted her decision to make the trip, even if she should not survive it. This decision was arrived at after discussion with her husband and the practitioner regarding the rightness and purity of her motive. Her husband carried her to the motorcar, and the one hundred and fifty mile trip began.
The mesmerism of disability broke as the trip proceeded, and on arrival the girl walked into her mother's home unaided. Later that afternoon she walked out into the yard to look over the garden. Full recovery proceeded from that time, and not long after, the practitioner was dismissed at the successful end of five years' work. Subsequently this young woman served as Second Reader in a large church in a metropolitan area, showing the completeness of the healing of nervous breakdown and attendant fears.
How clearly it appears that if we would bring about a renewal of body structure or restore right activity to the body we must have a renewal of thought, a renewal of affections, correcting any thought-process that is not in harmony with the divine! We must not only be born again, mentally regenerated, for our own sake, but for our fellowmen's. We must root out of consciousness stubbornly held beliefs regarding our brother men's deficiencies, whatever their apparent nature. Even if one is expressing love for others according to his highest sense at the moment, he can improve on doing it.
Scientific renewal can be instant. One needn't wait for a particular time or season or condition. Whenever a Christlike thought replaces an opposite thought, scientific renewal proceeds. Improvement thus begins in whatever may have seemed wrong in the human system because a portion of wrong thinking has been removed, revealing in part the true government of the divine Mind.
As one's thought continues to improve through constant prayerful endeavor to think and act rightly, complete healing of discord follows. Thinking that has become new through greater understanding of God and His forever freshness results in the appearance of harmony in all aspects of one's existence. So we begin the fulfillment of the beautiful prophecy found in Revelation: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. . . . And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21:4, 5.
