Article February 6, 1971 Issue

Willingness versus Willfulness

W. RALPH ROCKHOLD

How often do you find yourself saying, "I will," "I want," or "I won't"? All three are generally the offspring of the same parents: willfulness and wishfulness. And when they are, they express a human determination to twist events into a pattern that seems right to us. Many times this human outlining takes the form of endeavoring to coerce others into following a line of thought or action that we deem wise; just as often it takes the opposite tack of resisting a procedure or proposal on which we hold differing opinions.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a right desire for a happy family, a gracious home, a productive livelihood, warm friends. All these elements of a well-rounded human experience, together with good health, comprise a sense of completeness to which each of us is entitled. How do we go about attaining them? Not by wishing or by sheer human will, but by recognizing that these are some of the things we can expect will be added when we seek first the kingdom of God. It was Christ Jesus who voiced this important point, so basic to the teachings of Christian Science. He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."^{Matt. 6:33;}

In the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy raises the concept of desire to an exalted level. She states, "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."^{Science and Health, p. 1;} How far removed from the mere human wishing for material benefits is this approach, which finds its fruitage in harmonious unfoldment of good! When we start by claiming our at-one-ment with God, the source of all good, and then fasten our gaze and our desires on the objective of expressing Godlike qualities in every thought and deed, we find that good unfolds in our experience in myriad ways and in a manner more beneficial and far-reaching than our own limited outlining could possibly plan or comprehend.