Article July 7, 1980 Issue

Get away from it all?

H. MARIANNE SCHMIDT

We have probably all harbored this desire at one time or another. The Psalmist voiced it this way: "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."^{Ps. 55:6;} Unthinkingly we suppose that turning our back on unhappy situations could be the solution. But such a course of action would tend only to allow our difficulties to increase and so prolong their appearance. Wherever we went, we would be taking along with us an unhealed belief in the reality of discord.

So running away is not the answer. Then, what is? Elsewhere the Psalmist gives a resounding reply: "In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?"^11:1; The reward of such trust is knowing that God is sheltering, delivering, and preserving us—right where we are.

Do we meet with elbowing, unkind rebuffs, frustrating obstacles, or sometimes even with terrifying occurrences? In disheartening situations we should, indeed, take to our wings—but not to fly away. Rather, for an upward flight. Mrs. Eddy points the way: "We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings—our efforts to find life and truth in matter—and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God."^{Science and Health, p. 262;}