"Patience must have her perfect work"

EMMA MARY WOOD

Before becoming acquainted with Christian Science, the writer was much helped by an anthem frequently sung in the church of which she was a member, containing the words adapted from the thirty-seventh Psalm, "O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee thy heart's desires." After she had begun the study of Christian Science these words kept coming persistently to her thought through the years, but they were put aside as savoring too much of the orthodox teaching that good is yet to come, in some uncertain future. But when she learned their true spiritual meaning, she saw that they were in harmony with the words of St. Paul, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," for all good is here now, and one does not have to wait for it.

This student had been struggling for years with periodic attacks of indigestion. She was always helped by applying the truth as taught in Christian Science, but was not healed, and the attacks became more frequent and more severe. One night during a very difficult time she prayed to the Father to show her the right way. The answer to her prayer came in the words from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 454), "Patience must 'have her perfect work.'"

The first chapter of James had been memorized by this student when she was a child attending Sunday school. In this chapter are the words: "The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." It was seen that much was expected, even to be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." She decided to start right there and watch her thinking, and to let nothing but the truth go out or enter in. It was a busy day for her, and when any thought of error presented itself, it was immediately replaced with the truth. It was also a joyous day, and in the evening some study was given to this message.

A definition of "wait" is "to rest in patience," and a definition of "patience" is "perseverance." So, to "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him," was not to sit down idly and expect something to come, but actively to watch and persevere in applying the truth to every thought that presents itself for acceptance. When one is actively watching and alert, one sees how many thoughts of criticism, anger, impatience, and the like, try to sift into one's thinking, and how easily one accepts them! They are "the little foxes, that spoil the vines." Mrs. Eddy says (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 123): "Seeing that we have to attain to the ministry of righteousness in all things, we must not overlook small things in goodness or in badness, for 'trifles make perfection,' and 'the little foxes ... spoil the vines.'"

Perseverance in right thinking brought a great spiritual unfoldment, and an eventual healing. These angels, which Mrs. Eddy defines as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality" (Science and Health, p. 581), are indeed our helpers along our journey from sense to Soul. When a problem is not being met completely, if one turns to the Father, with a desire to be led aright, He will show the way. In "Miscellaneous Writings" our Leader says (p. 15): "Nothing aside from the spiritualization—yea, the highest Christianization—of thought and desire, can give the true perception of God and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and holiness."

Patiently, perseveringly exchanging the human for the divine brings its reward, and plants one's footsteps farther along the road towards the goal which the Master set for all in his Sermon on the Mount: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit