Article March 14, 1970 Issue

Are You Toiling and Spinning?

JOAN McMURRAY

Christ Jesus gave us a rather startling illustration when he said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." ^{ Matt. 6:28, 29;} For years this Bible passage seemed to me to condone idleness and unproductivity; its spiritual significance was completely lost.

After I took up the study of Christian Science, it became more apparent that toiling and spinning is the anxious or willful human sense of struggling, which so often seems to influence all of us. Because the lily neither toils nor spins, this does not mean that it is not doing exactly what it is meant to do. To manifest fragrance, beauty, purity, glory, as an idea of God is all the lily is required to do. This is its reason for being.

Mrs. Eddy says, "The predisposing and exciting cause of all-defeat and victory under the sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedience to God, spiritualizes man's motives and methods, and crowns them with success; while disobedience to this divine Principle materializes human modes and consciousness, and defeats them." ^{ Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 267, 268;}

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