More than meets the eye
Through the window in my study I have a superb view of my backyard and beyond. My mornings are spent there as I prepare for my day with prayer and study.
Now in the midst of gray northern winter days, I recall one lovely morning last spring when I became aware of a dramatic change in the view from my window. Where there had been only a skeletal framework of trunks and bare branches, beds of dry leaves, and leftover stalks from last year’s gardens, there was now a lush green bower with an infinite variety of blooms.
What had appeared to be bleak dormancy, was simply a canvas awaiting its artist. Before my eyes was a masterpiece of beauty, harmony, and tranquillity, and I thought of the joy and peace expressed in one of my favorite Bible passages: “The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12 ).
As I sat there absorbing this scene, I realized that what I was seeing was a portrait of unfoldment hieroglyphed in the language of nature. Leaves had appeared silently, blossoms had unfurled without fanfare, and the green grass had risen up unannounced. Everything I saw was awash in loveliness.
At that moment, it occurred to me how like the seeming dormancy of winter human consciousness can be when frozen, encrusted, or deadened by ignorance, fear, indifference, prejudice, doubt, bigotry, and a thousand and one other etceteras of mortal existence. Even so, just as the warmth of a sunbeam melts away layers of ice and snow, so a trickle of truth, or a glimpse of a divine idea dawning in consciousness can work what may be thought of as miracles.
This idea expands with our acceptance of it. As a tiny rivulet of snowmelt becomes a babbling brook, which gathers more waters to become a stream, which grows to be a river, just so the mere gleam of a spiritual idea impelled by a divine impetus gradually floods consciousness until it blooms like a rose in the desert of human fear and uncertainty.
A glimpse of a divine idea dawning in consciousness can work what may be thought of as miracles.
Unfoldment comes quietly, growing almost unnoticed, like those new leaves, until it’s there in all its splendor, and we are filled with it. Words are inadequate to describe this process, this happening. It’s first a feeling of recognition, then of wonder. “The loveliness of Love is all around,” as Hymn No. 64 (Violet Hay) in the Christian Science Hymnal so beautifully expresses it. These unfoldments are evidenced in our own blooming—our spiritual growth, our transformed lives, our deepening unconditional love, and most especially, our healing work. Isn’t a return to so-called dormancy an opportunity to revisit our roots to be nourished and strengthened by fundamental truths we already know?
As a tree’s roots spread and deepen, the tree grows stronger. Flower bulbs preserve their energy for new growth another season. Seeds wait patiently for the warmth and softening moisture that prepare the soil for their emergence and blossoming. Don’t we all share this potential to find full expression as God’s unfolding spiritual ideas?
When we listen and watch quietly, we are enriched by divine Love’s ways of meeting our every need (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 494 ). In truth, we are ever in bloom. We are filled, satisfied, complete, and continually unfolding.
