On page 361 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy has written, "Spiritual ideas unfold as we advance." The meaning of these words unfolded with added significance one evening as two students of Christian Science drove along a highway through the country darkness—no street lights, no human habitations, nothing but the headlights of the car, which pierced the darkness a comparatively short distance ahead. Beyond that was unknown darkness!

Yet there was no hesitation. The driver knew that even as the car advanced the way would open; knew that the very fact that the car bearing its own lights went forward meant that the unknown darkness just beyond the present range of vision would be pierced, and that any curves, hills, or obstructions in the road would be revealed in ample time to allow for proper handling of the car. So without slackening her speed she drove steadily on.

When seeking the solution of a problem by means of Christian Science how often do we become discouraged, fearful, even nonactive, because we can see only a very short distance ahead! Having prayed earnestly, perhaps, to divine Mind for guidance, and feeling grateful for the unfoldment of even the first step, we falter merely because we do not as yet know what will be the step beyond that.

Do we not need to realize that since "light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love" (Science and Health, p. 510), we have this light ever with us; and that as we go confidently forward in the light already received the darkness we encounter is bound to disappear and the succeeding necessary steps will be revealed in due time? Had the driver of the car felt that because she could see only a few hundred feet ahead it would be dangerous to go on and therefore she had better wait for more light, no further progress would have been made that night.

On that memorable occasion when the children of Israel stood on the shore of the Red Sea, had Moses failed to follow the light as far as he had received it and disobeyed God's command to "speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward," would the waters have parted for them? But directly they took the step which had been revealed to them the way opened for the march across!

Had Elijah looked only at the widow's meager material supply, he might well have felt it unfair to ask her to share it with him. But because God had designated that first step to him he took it, knowing that God's full plan would come to light, and that it could not impoverish anyone. As a result, not only was his temporary need for food supplied, but also that of the widow and her household.

If faced at the tomb of Lazarus by what is perhaps the blackest of darkness, because "the last enemy" is the opposite of the greatest truth, eternal Life, Christ Jesus had hesitated to take the step which God had revealed to him and to call positively, "Lazarus, come forth," would he have come forth? If our Leader had failed to take each step as it unfolded to her, could she have been the appointed agent for establishing the great Christian Science movement with its incalculable benefits to mankind?

Today many students of Christian Science are proving that when they have earnestly sought divine guidance they can indeed go forward in the light received with the utmost confidence that all future steps will be unfolded to them at the right time. They are thus realizing to some extent the truth of the statement in Science and Health (p. 444), "Step by step will those who trust Him find that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.'"

No matter how black had seemed the darkness beyond the range of the automobile headlights, it disappeared the instant the light was focused upon it. Just as surely will every problem, no matter how dark and foreboding it seems, disappear before the light of true understanding. Many Christian Scientists throughout the world are testifying to the effect that "tumors, ulcers, tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are waking dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which flee before the light of Truth" (ibid., p. 418). Likewise, many of them have proved that in the hour of dire need, when they figuratively stood before the Red Sea, pressed by the pursuing Egyptians—sin, sickness, death, hate, malice, indecision, discontentment, injustice, fear, discouragement—those falsities from which they are rightly claiming their freedom, the way has opened when they have obeyed in utmost confidence the divine command to go forward. For when fear and discord are faced with the light of confident understanding, what can they do but disappear? Such opposites as fear and confidence cannot occupy one's consciousness at the same time.

How comforting it is to realize that in proportion as we claim for ourselves the understanding of the great truth contained in our textbooks, the Bible and Science and Health, we can go steadily, happily, courageously forward, in full confidence that the light of Truth goes before us to dispel the darkness, to prove the nothingness of all that is unlike God, good!