Article October 12, 1981 Issue

The fullness of joy

RUTH KARP

It is everyone's heart's desire—a desire that is a divine right—to be happy. But mankind is slow to attain the joy that God in truth has already bestowed on man. A key difficulty is our tendency to identify ourselves as mortals and to seek happiness from material things. Mrs. Eddy states, "Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material conception of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the immortal side."^{ Science and Health, p. 536.} It therefore is necessary for the Christian Scientist to understand the difference between real joy, which originates in God, and a mortal sense of joy, which depends upon material accompaniments. We find it essential to choose which sense of joy we will accept and strive for—the spiritual and true or the material and delusive.

When my daughter became engaged to one whom I believed to be a very choice young man, I saw that I needed to establish spiritual joy in my life. I was constantly confronted with remarks of how happy I should be. I had to hold to the fact that my happiness comes from the joy that God gives, as He is the giver of all good. I knew that this kind of thinking would establish an inner strength so that no external happenings could challenge my happiness, which was permanently fixed in God. I prayed to understand that all true relationships are supported by divine Principle, Love. I knew that I had to align myself with real joy, since I understood that no element outside God, good, could establish a permanent sense of happiness. Therefore, whenever I was asked by others if I knew how fortunate my family was, I would answer, "I'm very grateful." But I made certain that I silently finished that statement with, "to You, dear God, for my joy comes from You alone."

After a short time my daughter's marriage "hit the rocks," and a divorce was pending. My son-in-law had become aggressively opposed to Christian Science, and to make things even more dramatic, he had given my daughter the ultimatum to choose between Christian Science and their marriage. Because of her love for God, she unhesitatingly advised him that she had no choice in the matter, since God and Christian Science were the most important things in her life. I felt no depression, disappointment, or resentment. I had the confidence and understanding that God's presence and joy were irreversible. My joy was not sapped, and I was able to pray with inspiration for God's will to be done.

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