Article December 4, 2000 Issue

Choose to live

It's something you can do.

By Ruth Elizabeth Jenks

She did. He did. They did. I did. And you can—even if you may think you don't want to. And why not! Saying yes to living doesn't mean agreeing to grin and bear it regardless of what the situation may be. Whether you're suffering from a disease, or from mental pain brought on by disappointment or grief, or facing the bleakness of old age, you can discover the fact that good things can start happening right at this moment.

Never give up! Freedom, joy, purpose—they haven't slipped out of your grasp. And you don't need to feel that you're either unworthy of happiness or that you've tried so many times to find purpose and peace without results.

Jesus offered a promise to each one of us, a promise that has been fulfilled in the lives of countless people: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). This was a promise that he made credible— whether by feeding a crowd, finding the money to pay taxes, or healing people of all ages. However, too often our troubles of the moment seem overwhelming. The original publisher of this magazine, Mary Baker Eddy, compassionately realised this when she wrote, "Nothing is more disheartening than to believe that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that God endows this opposing power with strength to be used against Himself, against Life, health, harmony" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 380.)