Editorial December 6, 1982 Issue

Is your desire for companionship a prayer?

CAROLYN B. SWAN

Two definitions of "desire" given in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy may give us pause. The first reads, "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."^{Science and Health, p. 1.} The second reads, in contrast, "Fear. ... desire ...."^{Ibid., p. 586.}

Our desires do indicate what we worship. If our desires rest on a material basis, or if the desire for money, fame, things, takes first priority in our lives, we may find ourselves enthroning matter. If we can't ever face being alone, this may indicate that we idolize mortals. Such insatiable desires smack of fear because they seem to perpetuate a belief of not having. They may even prod us to scheme to get what we fear we lack.

When desire issues from conviction of having and expressing, however, because man in the likeness of God actually possesses all divine good by reflection, it is prayer. When we truly desire to realize what God, immortal Spirit, constantly imparts, our desires become answered prayers as quickly and thoroughly as newly crowned King Solomon's desire for understanding to judge. God responded, "Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart .... And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour."^{ I Kings 3:12, 13.} Solomon, accepting God at His word, practiced his divine gifts, and was accounted "wiser than all men."^{ I Kings 4:31.}