Article August 16, 1969 Issue

The Vital Spark of Energy

JOAN McDOWELL ROSE

According to Christian Science man moves at the intelligent impulsion of God, in accordance with His will. By carrying out our activities on this basis we are able to express strength under conditions that would tend to wear us out. One who is continually fatigued from overwork may need to ask himself if he is truly God-motivated and God-directed in all that he is doing. If one is striving to gain merely material goals or believing that achievements are restricted by human abilities, then, because he has a very limited estimate of his source of energy, he may frequently find himself "running out of steam."

However, the Christianly scientific worker finds that as he molds his will and methods to the divine, he is able to tap the wellsprings of spiritual energy. His work becomes more meaningful, orderly, and effortless. While a sense of burden or depression is often the result of selfish or willful actions, rest and renewal come from God-impelled activity.

Christ Jesus' career was exceptionally active. He might have felt pressured and weary had he thought that his energy came from his human body or from his forceful personality or any other human circumstances. Instead, the thronging of the multitudes and the constant demands on his time and attention must have caused him to depend completely upon God as the source of his strength. After he had instantaneously healed the man by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus described the origin of his energy and ability in these words: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."^{John 5:30;}

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