How pleasant was the aroma of new flowers in the atmosphere! The rays of the sun caressed the earth from the clear, clean September sky. The winter, now passed, was gradually giving way to the season when everything is renewed. It was spring in Argentina, and in order to join that explosion of life which was stirring the air, I decided to put the garden in order.

I needed to cultivate the soil, arrange the plants, and take out some undergrowth around the base of the old tree, which stood solemn and majestic at one end. "Old?" I asked myself. "Each year it is stronger and more beautiful." The profusion of bright shoots on its branches tells of its natural vigor. The birds sing happily on the secure support it offers them, joining in the symphony of earth's color and music.

How old is the tree? I don't know. Nor does it matter. To me it reflects Life—that is, God. And in that reflection I see much that is extraordinary. This Life and its unfoldment, which take no account of time or other elements of dejection and decline, become tangible to us as we perceive the intimate connection that exists between God, Spirit, or Life, and man and all creation as the expression of God.

Spiritual being is ageless and permanently active. Life, God, is forever expressed, and Life is not subject to up-and-down cycles, transitory periods, aging, or decline.

Man and man's strength do not come from cellular energy or the brain. They come from the oneness of being and eternal Mind. The book Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy invites readers to reflect on these ideas when it says: "Men and women of riper years and larger lessons ought to ripen into health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness or gloom. Immortal Mind feeds the body with supernal freshness and fairness, supplying it with beautiful images of thought and destroying the woes of sense which each day brings to a nearer tomb."

The prophet Jeremiah perceived the advantage of making God the center of our living when he declared: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Biblical characters such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, and others demonstrated to a significant degree the unassailable strength that comes from living by divine inspiration. They each lived long and vigorous lives.

Identifying ourselves daily with Life, communing with God in prayer, and really living Life, establish in consciousness an understanding of man's God created identity and substance, incapable of diminishing or disappearing. Spiritual being, self-existent and self-sufficient, forever flows from the fountain of Spirit. It is the eternal unfolding of individual completeness and abundance. Not an atom of materiality, of sin, illness, or death, can exist in the reality of God's allness. Knowing that one is governed by Him annuls the lie of believing that we are old, abandoned, rejected, or useless.

The man of God, pure and whole, free from all present or past contamination connected with aging, knows the splendor of Soul. This understanding exposes as a lie any limitation that would claim to attach itself to our experience. In the indestructible substance of Spirit, where God and man are one, dwell only vigor, exuberance, activity, strength, intelligence, joy—all emanating from divine Love.

A friend of mine, a student of Christian Science, retired twenty years ago. But since then he has had the opportunity to work in many positions. At the age of seventy-two he changed jobs, which allowed him to attend regularly the Sunday services at his branch church where he ushers.

Gradually the owners of this business saw in my friend such valuable traits as respect, punctuality, order, unselfishness, responsibility, and an immense desire to help whoever needed help. This caused them to give him important tasks. In the next eight years of work, he never missed a day, even during times when there were strikes and other problems that interfered with public transportation. He walked several kilometers daily between work and home. Weather conditions such as cold, heat, or rain never intimidated him. And the payment for his work always met his needs.

At times when some physical or work-related problem bothered him, my friend never failed to search the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy, which helped him perceive his true spiritual identity and the Godlikeness of those around him, bringing healing comfort. Today, he continues working completely normally and he is active in his church. When I speak with him I realize, through his words, the great and increasing confidence which he has in spiritual truth.

This experience of putting aside human assumptions of age and time in order to know God as a permanent presence—in easy and difficult times—is it only for a few? Is the relationship between divine Principle and its idea, man, demonstrable only for an elect? When we begin to love as Christ Jesus loved and to put aside traits and spiritual misconceptions that would prevent us from recognizing divine Mind's guidance, we realize that we are all included in the one harmonious, perfect, spiritual creation. What a restorative and practical idea is expressed in this passage from Science and Health: "Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness."

Today it isn't unusual to see the loss of respect or care toward those people whom, after a set age, human belief would shove to the side as "old"—denying them and society the possibilities of seeing in each individual the reflection of God's purity and perfection. And, at times, inharmony takes hold of the very thought of the individual, clouding his true identity, which is indissolubly connected to divine Principle.

But biological assumptions begin to lose their importance to us when we realize that such qualities as affection, mercy, spiritual understanding, order, uprightness, and the innumerable characteristics of good constitute the true man, our actual nature. These qualities don't need some perfect physical state in which to develop. On the contrary. Putting them into practice both reveals and is evidence of the divine Spirit, which heals and regenerates.

The true vigor and perpetual unfoldment of God and His idea become more apparent when we discover that they aren't the result of the body taking in some chemical compound or producing new cells. They come from the understanding that man is made of the indestructible substance of Spirit; that good is the essence of all that God has made; and that He made all that is real.

The pages of the calendar will continue to fall at our feet. But we need not fear the passage of time, looking for a new wrinkle on our face or measuring our strength according to the tasks human belief says we can carry out. Instead it is important to ask ourselves, "What does God know of me today?" and to measure our lives by how much good we do each day. And always, always, we can rejoice in the freedom of knowing that we are children of God, that we forever reflect divine and eternal Life and Love.