Article October 30, 1976 Issue

It takes alertness

Minding Our Business

GRACE HOUGH CARTER

"Study to be quiet, and to do your own business." I Thess. 4:11; So cautioned Paul. We need to reject the false impulses that would impel us either to neglect our business or trespass on another 's business. There is a continuing challenge to ponder the Bible, along with Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, to find out just where our responsibility lies.

Sometimes fear is the prompter of meddling. We may be afraid we cannot do all that is required of us by God. So, as a subterfuge, we try to derive undue benefit from another 's good work. It may seem easier to tag along with another 's successes than to calmly accept one's own responsibility and claim one's inseparability from God, divine Love, and His plan. We are the chief losers if we are indifferent or lazy about finding our part in God's plan. Fear that we will be unable to know clearly just what is the best course to take will fade as we cling to the understanding we already have, use it, and earnestly work for more. Casting out fears is an urgent part of minding our business.

Animal magnetism, which may operate as a belief in an attraction opposite to good, would tempt us to do work that is not rightfully ours. It might argue that another's working out of his affairs needs to be propped up, or that our neighbor's experience is more interesting than our own. Or self-righteousness might tempt us to dash in without prayerful forethought, believing ourselves to be more capable of fixing a friend's mistakes than he is. Mrs. Eddy writes, "It is the self-asserting mortal will-power that you must guard against." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 281;

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