Hope in the face of despair
At this time, in many parts of the world, people are facing impending economic chaos. The stability of the single currency in Europe is threatened, and a lack of political consensus seems to stop other countries moving forward. You can almost hear people sighing for the good old days even though those days might not have been that much better.
The moral of the story is that human conditions, being changeable, don’t always point us toward a reliable hope. My study of Christian Science, however, has given me two insights that have helped me dissolve the fear of impending doom and gloom that seeks to stifle hope.
While reading the book of Genesis one day, I was struck by the passage, “There went up a mist from the earth” (2:6). When a mist comes up, it clouds the sun. From a spiritual standpoint, one could think of this mist as representing those negatives that keep us from seeing the sun of God’s goodness. For example, fear, hatred, jealousy, superstition, despair, resentment, and anxiety would blind us to God’s care for us and for others.
To get beyond these feelings requires a change in our point of view—from thinking that they are in charge of our lives to realizing that they have no place in Mind’s goodness and love. So to experience love, hope, and joy, we need to demistify our thoughts by casting out despair and hate—whatever would darken our ability to perceive God’s goodness.
Mary Baker Eddy points the way when she writes: “We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 248).
Each attribute evidences some facet of the divine nature, and they are all yours to express, to value, and to cherish.
There is a reason for entertaining joy, love, happiness, and other attributes that constitute the kingdom. For if you give expression to these qualities, they must become part of your experience. If you’re in the grip of despair, this might sound hard to believe. But if you take just one of these attributes and manifest it in your life, you’ll begin to see more of it, and it will appear in consort with other spiritual qualities such as strength, honesty, intelligence.
Each attribute evidences some facet of the divine nature, and they are all yours to express, to value, and to cherish. In this way, you will gain clearer evidence that God is with you and supporting you even in a time of trial. And your life will change.
You’ll be experiencing the divine law of good coming to light as you become willing to express it. Divine Mind knows everything as perfect because Mind is perfect. As our creator, God has made us perfect, and when we accept this spiritual reality, inevitably we’ll see things in this light. Healing will result, as Mrs. Eddy confirms when she writes of Christ Jesus’ approach to healing, “In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick” (Science and Health, p. 477).
Whether the source of our mistification is sickness of body, of mind, or of finances, or any other issue, we can face the future with hope and confidence as these constitute the divine law of good and the Almighty God enforces His law. That is the real nature of and a sound basis for hope.
