Article February 10, 1968 Issue

Conscious Worth

ROSEMARY L. KRIEGER

How often we have known people capable of great good, or evidencing pronounced potential, who do not bring their talents to fruition! It would seem that they neither gain a profit for themselves nor bless humanity by the exercise of their abilities. Is it not failure to bring out and exercise individual worth, rather than any lack of worth, that is the cause of most unproductive living?

The Scriptures are full of illustrations of men and women who faced defeat but who, because of some measure of appreciation for their own true selfhood, coupled with conscious efforts to express it, proved that men can triumph over the set of adverse material circumstances confronting them. This activity in human consciousness is identified in Christian Science as the Christ, that "true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9; In proportion to our acceptance of the Scriptural assurances of God's impartial yet individual bestowals do we feel our own inclusiveness of every good quality and ability and find our own field of usefulness.

Abraham Lincoln once said. "It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself, and claims kindred to the great God who made him."^{Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes, Aug. 14, 1862;} One can take the first step away from the gloom of unsatisfying existence by declaring for the consciousness of his own individual worth. Recognizing oneself as the offspring of the only parent, God, one can then face in the right direction for undertaking profitable endeavor.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"The uses of adversity"