A prominent pharmaceutical company, interested in selling its sleeping pills, broadcasts the provocative question over American television "Are you having trouble getting to sleep?"

It's normal, of course, to have a certain amount of sleep. But are sleeping pills a valid answer to our need for rest? Referring to the keeping of "sound wisdom and discretion," the Bible, in the book of Proverbs, includes this promise to us as followers of God: "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." Our sleep shall be sweet!

Yet sometimes we may find ourselves struggling through the night in weariness and discomfort, besieged by discordant thoughts and having to face the next day fighting dullness and fatigue, unable to do our jobs properly. It is not, however, mere temporary relief or periods of unconsciousness that we should reach for. What we need is an across-the-board mental change of the kind that will bring real peace of mind. What else can give us a true sense of rest and also help to guarantee the healthy, productive lives we long for?

Christian Science teaches how to achieve this. In this science we learn that God, Spirit, the infinite heart of goodness and beneficence, does not send trouble and misery. God is for us, not against us. We learn that all the evil and suffering we see about us is not divinely real or factual. It is the outward manifestation of false, materialistic concepts, mortal thought erupting continuously within its own sphere of belief.

We discover that God, infinite Spirit, is the creative Principle of all that is real and true. Gradually we come to realize that since everything He has made expresses His nature, it follows that you and I, as Spirit's offspring, are spiritual and harmonious in the reality of our being—not material, not defined by physicality or subject to the innumerable discords associated with it. We are immeasurably grander than the physical senses could possibly appreciate.

This understanding, lifting us above the mesmeric waves of suffering that afflict a mortal sense of living, gives us genuine peace of mind—along with the resuscitating rest we need. Wasn't Christ Jesus pointing to the need for such understanding when he said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"? What but Jesus' vision of man's immortal nature, evidencing God's divine law of harmony, could explain the mighty healings he accomplished?

Of course, there may at times be reasons for forgoing the usual hours of slumber in order to help someone else or to assist in some worthy project. (We certainly don't want to be like the disciples who went to sleep in the garden of Gethsemane when their Master, facing the agony of his crucifixion, needed them most!) When we are willing to love in the expansive healing way that Jesus loved, we will not indulge in complacency and neglect but will face up to the desperate needs of the world today and will contribute to healing them.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, placed emphasis on rest, rather than on sleep, per se. "In the midst of depressing care and labor," she writes, "I turn constantly to divine Love for guidance, and find rest" (Miscellaneous Writings). She also tells us in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untoward conditions, if without sin, can be experienced without suffering." And she continues, "Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself."

What are some of the steps we can take? I, for one, have found it helpful, when retiring, to acknowledge with gratitude whatever good the day has held, and then to realize that the night is entirely in God's loving hands. To use the words of a familiar psalm, we can know "This is the [night] which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

When we find ourselves lamenting "What on earth have I to be grateful for?" let's hush that complaining voice. In this regard, the following reminder has come to me frequently: Be thankful even for the small, commonplace signs of beauty and goodness before you! For the eagerness of the leaves to break forth in the springtime. For an unexpected smile from a passing stranger, and any small signs of kindness that may shine out against the backdrop of public indifference. Once, I recall, it was simply the exuberant voice of a robin that broke the mental tension for me as the morning was dawning!

And above all, ought we not to be on our knees with gratitude for the examples of Christ Jesus and the Apostle Paul, of Mrs. Eddy and all those who have lived to bless humanity? Indeed, we should. Yes, there is much to be grateful for if we will just look for it!

Gratitude can operate as a solvent and a lubricant when such are needed. It can break up congestion and obliterate the inflammatory and poisonous elements that would interfere with our rest. The divine Love we feel caring for us will loosen stiffened muscles and joints, quiet nervousness, and impel healthy action, leaving no sign of a struggle. This is demonstrable fact.

If God seems remote and far away in the dark hours, we need to realize that every right thought and impulse we have actually represents God Himself speaking to us directly. He is just that close—a living, practical guide, always at hand to help us.

Mortal thought may suggest pain, saying, "You can't sleep. You hurt too much." Then symptoms may parade before us until perhaps we even become afraid to relax and go to sleep for fear of not waking up. The prospect of a normal, healthy life sometimes seems to have been completely forgotten among the plethora of complicated medical theories hanging in the atmosphere these days!

But God, divine Mind, knows nothing of all this dark stuff. God is our origin, our source; our very Life. He knows us to be spiritual, free, and forever safe, wrapped in His love and His mighty truth. We can rest in that fact. It will operate as a law of peace and comfort to every unfolding hour.

Much of our difficulty with sleeplessness may relate to our troubled sense of personal relationships. Here is an area of consciousness that needs vigilant housecleaning and prayer. Brooding constantly over mortal personalities (what this one says or doesn't say and what that one does or doesn't do) makes rest impossible. Peace comes along with the understanding of Mind's absolute oneness; this understanding dissolves the sense of conflict and opens doors for adjustments to occur. 

What, in our heart of hearts, do we really want for every individual? Don't we want each and every one to have a life unfolding harmoniously in Truth, to be blessed by the wisdom and guidance of the Father-Mother we all reflect? Surely we do. Even this simple desire brings stillness and comfort and helps our fellowman.

As Mind's ideas, we are not boxed in by limiting thoughts of the past, the present, or the future. Our conscious being, reflecting God, is unconfined, infinite. Confronted with this truth, the burdensome claims associated with personal history, heredity, undesirable character traits, and unhappy memories can't torment us or rob us of our rest. They are washed away, eradicated, expunged! We can "rest in the Lord" in the true sense of those words.

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright," the Psalmist tells us, "for the end of that man is peace." When we see man spiritually as God knows him, beautiful and perfect, and stick to the truth that all the ideas of Mind live and move together in order and Christliness, we will certainly find our peace.

"You've so much to do. So many things left unfinished!" Mortal sense may scream at us, and then we tie ourselves up in knots, tense and fretful. That is the time to back away from the personal scene and rest in the consciousness of Mind's infinity, of Life's timelessness and inexhaustible energy. God is never under pressure, and He is the Mind we reflect. This divine intelligence, governing our thinking, will enable us to keep our priorities straight and avoid panic. As soon as we accept this fact, we can do the thing of first importance, then the next, and the next, knowing that everything will be properly finished.

After all, we are reflection. God is actually the doer, the true impeller and power. After referring to body as tributary to Mind, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it seems otherwise to finite sense."

This is the man we really are. If we will approach our work with this understanding, things will get done better and more quickly. Perfect Mind is forever unfolding itself in unlabored and glorious activity, and—seen in Science—we are the living evidence of this, never under stress. There is great spiritual satisfaction in that realization. It takes all the troublesome kinks out of our outlook and gives us the peaceful rest we need.