"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." These strengthening words, found in Isaiah, arrest the attention of the traveler along human ways and experiences, whether he is just beginning to detect the hollowness of mere material pursuits or, perchance, has already perceived that human promises often remain unfulfilled. What assurance of happiness the material senses presented, in a seemingly attractive and appealing light! But where is the abiding love, the joy, the peace, the confidence, the contentment they so winsomely promised?

Here is a ray of hope, however. Perhaps, after all, thinks this traveler, though human promises have led, by either straight or winding pathway, to defeat and failure, it can be proved that "God's promises are kept." Has it been because one's obedience has mostly been to the things of the flesh rather than to the things of Spirit, that disaster has so often resulted? Was it because good was not dominant in our thoughts that the promises bestowed no lasting bounty? At least the traveler will do as the Scriptures bid him do—reason on the question.

Searching in Christian Science for light on this subject, one finds that Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 492), "For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence." In the endeavor, then, to base one's reasoning correctly, one must accept, and hold to, true concepts of God. Whatever one's concept of God, one knows it to be something higher than mortality; and one knows that in turning to God, however gropingly, he is turning from a false sense of self. Whereas before, "I" and "you" and "we" loomed large in thought, now the personal sense of things commences to fade out somewhat, as one halts this kind of thinking with the true concept of God. If, many times a day, the old mortal reasoning seeks to wedge in and gain ground; if the material senses seem to insist upon receiving attention by presenting their old arguments, just so often can one, with all the authority of man's God-given right, deny their power to act or operate. One can rejoice a little more each day, as one makes more room for God, good, in his thinking. Little by little, under this procedure, the errors that would tangle and harass human relationships steadily yield to the increasing habit of giving God the glory, bringing thought into true captivity to Christ, Truth.

To the extent that one lets God possess his thinking, to this extent is one naturally expressing God's qualities and truly reflecting the Father. It is his right and privilege to contemplate true selfhood as God's likeness. And if the old way of thinking has been shown untrue in one's own experience, surely it must be so in his brother's also. If one can see that in his true selfhood he is the child of the Father, he can also see that this is spiritually true of his neighbor, his friend, and even his so-called enemy.

With deep significance one ponders the beautiful words of our Leader (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 83) that man is held "forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss, as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good." How refreshing, how wholesome, to set this truth against the suggestion one hears so often, that existence is humdrum! How glorious to let one's consciousness be flooded with the thought that man is "a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good"! Is not this sufficient to glorify each day with newness of inspiration; to meet every circumstance, or set of circumstances—each situation that has seemed so hard—with joy unspeakable? Did one ever conceive of such a use for himself in his former thinking—this being a witness to inexhaustible good?

And if good is truly inexhaustible, should not this fact utterly dissipate any notion one may have been harboring as to where he wants to be in the scheme of things? Out of even the lowest depths, obedience to the voice of Truth will gently but forcefully persuade us into the kingdom of heaven. Obedience to what is satisfying to divine Love must surely include a right human adjustment. "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore," declared the Psalmist. No limitation, no hint of confinement, is found in this beautiful promise. It is a question of being truly willing to seek the Father's will for direction, and then rejoicing in that directing, even to the extent of letting go much that perhaps seemed fine and splendid to thought not yet sufficiently purified to accept only the Christ, Truth.

And how will one wish to spend his time, if he is remembering what he truly is? Surely this is not hard to answer. One usually does what one really wants to do. And as one learns that God keeps His promises and satisfies the human heart, the old desires fade into less and less distinctness, and aims take nobler shape. One finds himself saying with the poet Moore:

Far too often one hears the lament,—in fact, who has not himself, in despair of all things material, cried out in longing distress,—"What is there to live for?" That cry, though one may not be aware of it at the time, is a turning from self; and if we stop long enough to remember that to every "Oh, my Father!" comes the response, "Here, my child," we begin to seek and to find the answer for ourselves.

What are we here for? As it is with many another question, the answer to this is also wonderfully given by our Leader. On page 165 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" she says, "Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing." And on the next page she continues, "So long as we have the right ideal, life is worth living and God takes care of our life."

So here is our requisite—to have the right ideal! And he who has touched the hem of the garment of Christian Science knows that this ideal is spiritual. What light, what warmth, what beauty of expression, is here outlined for us; what capacity for each and all! Here to glorify God—for nothing else! Here to act as representatives of Love, of Life, of Truth! Surely here is real peace; for we are thus learning to "drink of the river of thy pleasures"—to think only of what is pleasing to the Father.

As we press forward, forgetting the things which are behind, let us think often of these heavenly things. Truly, with such an ideal as this refining our thinking processes, the outlook is bright! And the way will become brighter still, until the fulfillment of the great promise is realized, and we awake in His likeness—satisfied.