Article May 14, 1979 Issue

Don't stay in the vestibule

JUDITH ANN HARDY

No one stays in the vestibule. A vestibule is merely a good place to leave muddy boots and a convenient, protected passthrough into the inside.

In Mrs. Eddy's definition of "wilderness" in Science and Health that word "vestibule" is used in an interesting way: "Wilderness. Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence."^{Science and Health, p. 597;} The children of Israel are not the only ones who have wandered in a wilderness. Most of us have had difficult times beset by doubt and darkness. But we may not have viewed these hard times as a vestibule and realized that we needn't stay there enduring sickness, pain, or sorrow. By claiming and exercising our innate spiritual sense, our ability to know God, which awakens us to glimpse Love's guiding hand right in the midst of our difficulty, we can also spontaneously and willingly trust Him to lead us on into our "promised land." Then we can demonstrate the kingdom of heaven, harmony, right here on earth. We can prove our God-given dominion and overcome what is not good in our lives.

What valuable lessons we can learn from the children of Israel! During their forty years in the wilderness they saw continuing proofs of the Father's care. He parted the waters for their escape from bondage, guided them by fire and cloud, protected them from serpents and scorpions, provided water in drought, and manna and quail in famine. Yet most of them complained, even yearned for their past slavery in Egypt, clinging to their doubts of God's ability to give them the Promised Land. Their own doubts—not God—kept them in the vestibule; but those who were willing to completely trust Love's omnipotence entered the Promised Land.

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