Article May 7, 1979 Issue

Running on a full tank

FREDERICK H. BRIGHTMAN

A relative who felt things were not going well for her recently lamented that she was "running on empty." This vivid description of her mood stayed with me. Later, when I appeared to be bogged down with problems at work, I found myself acknowledging that I, too, seemed to be running on empty.

As a student of Christian Science, I had been taught to reverse discouragement by replacing it with the truth of man's relationship to God. Hadn't I read in the Bible, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy"?^{Ps. 16:11;} And I knew God as all-powerful, ever present, and always the basis of perfection. So how could distressing thoughts have a real source? They couldn't.

As the day progressed I took careful stock of what I was accepting. My gauge was not showing the full tank of divine inspiration. At times it registered "depleted, spent, dried up." Accompanying this was the suggestion that the season of the year had a negative influence on my vitality and morale; wasn't I entitled to these seasonal blues? Also, TV commercials had been insinuating that I might well have a run-down feeling.

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