How does one resolve a complicated legal issue that is caught in a stalemate?

At one time I was told there was nothing I could do but run a land ownership dispute through the courts. The attorney said the land had been embroiled in a tangled ownership situation for many years. Now, I was told, the problem was compounded because there were several inheritors, including me.

Even as he spoke, I knew, without doubt, there was another solution. The legal opinion he offered was based on what the material senses observed. Here was an opportunity to dispel a longstanding stalemate with God's law of harmony, discernible through spiritual sense.

There is no risk in relinquishing a problem to God's law, because God governs harmoniously every detail in the universe. Real law proceeds from God, Principle. As Mary Baker Eddy states in Miscellaneous Writings: "In the spiritual Genesis of creation, all law was vested in the Lawgiver, who was a law to Himself. In divine Science, God is One and All; and, governing Himself, He governs the universe" (p. 258).

We do not personally control our own little niche in the universe. As God's expression, man reflects His government and control. In reality, true self-government is being obedient to God's government.

Confusion drops away when we realize God's control is orderly. God, Mind, is never confused. The Bible tells us, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" (I Cor. 14:33). Mind is only aware of harmonious action. God, Principle, knows only order and establishes it. We experience peace in our lives as we yield to God's law.

Frustration leaves when we realize God provides perfect direction that blesses everyone. Human outlining is limited and faulty. We cease to feel frustrated when we quit outlining and humbly turn to God for His faultless direction.

Disappointment, too, loses its hold on us when we recognize we are in fact God's reflection and thus can never be cut off from His outpouring goodness.

Science and Health says, "The reflection, through mental manifestation, of the multitudinous forms of Mind which people the realm of the real is controlled by Mind, the Principle governing the reflection" (p. 303). Letting go of endless planning about desired results and yielding to God's governing bring lasting fulfillment.

The Bible tells us in many ways to trust God and be humble enough to let Him direct. In Proverbs we read (from The Amplified Bible): "Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind, and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths" (3:5, 6). ^{The King James Version reads, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."}

In my case the multiple owners each had a different plan for the future of the property, but as Christian Science explains, creation is not made up of many mortal minds struggling with one another. We all reflect the one all-wise Mind. God is impartial Love, whose law cares equally for each one of us. Partiality and injustice have no basis in God's law. God's mercy and justice are reflected by man and prevail. God's law governs His entire creation. The recognition of this law in operation, as well as obedience to it, brings harmony.

For me, this truth was demonstrated by the complete reversal of the attorney's prediction. The inheritors met and made decisions as though there had never been any differences. The long-standing stalemate was harmoniously and judiciously resolved through a simple idea that had never been applied in the area. Although properties of a similar description had always been sold in a single unit, this property was sold in three units to three different buyers. The tillable acreage sold to one who needed to expand his holdings. The wooded river land sold to one who was interested in land development. The homestead sold to a city dweller who wanted to move his family to the country. This idea blessed buyers and sellers. God is wise and able to implement a blessing for all.

When one has prayed specifically for the resolution of a conflict, the great need, as Mrs. Eddy puts it, is then to have "faith in God's disposal of events" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 281). Putting full faith in God's law is the straightest, surest way to a resolution.