When one is governed by God, he expresses the spontaneity of Spirit. Christian Science shows one how to retain this spontaneity, this natural, joyous zest for life, or how to recapture it if one's human lot has seemed to beat down his faith in good and his desire to revive. This Science reveals man as Spirit's inseparable reflection, the embodiment of its irrepressible energies. It is, in fact, the law of God, which not only holds man in this eternal relationship with his source, but demonstrates that relationship to human sense, thus imparting to one who is receptive the constant refreshment of inspiration and spiritual strength.

When we understand our real self to be God's emanation, we cherish our actual unity with our Maker. We guard our present joy and lively interest in spiritual things as precious treasures, because we know that their presence in our hearts is proof that we are demonstrating our real manhood. Then, if we find our joy in reality lessening because of the behavior of mortals or the turn of human affairs, because of sickness or the impositions of sin, we are quick to defend our true state of mind and to resist evil's depredations. Our knowledge that we are in reality Spirit's reflection, rather than the sometimes depressed mortals we seem to be, gives vitality to our spiritual activity. Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 262), "Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'"

Christ Jesus was never beaten down by the things that happened to him, because his heart was with his treasure. His life was progressive; his outlook was affirmative and assured of Spirit's supremacy. Because his standpoint was his knowledge of his sonship with God, he met error's resistance to Truth with genuine zest, never with reservations or fear. However, his temptation in the wilderness, his long night vigils, his struggle in Gethsemane, all imply that he did not maintain his positive state of mind without prayerful effort. It was out of the maturity of his own demonstrated spontaneity of Spirit that he could say to his disciples (Luke 6:22, 23): "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, ... for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven."

The Master was encouraging his followers to stand the test of their convictions when he spoke these words. He was teaching them that spiritual strength—heaven's reward—is assured to those who maintain their joy in the face of adversity. Mrs. Eddy gives this assurance (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 128): "Truth crushed to earth springs spontaneously upward, and whispers to the breeze man's inalienable birthright—Liberty. 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' God is everywhere."

To be convinced that God is everywhere, that He is All, that He holds man forever in a state of unlabored activity and immunity from seeming evil, is to assure one of certain dominion over human experience. Our convictions determine the degree of our spontaneity in Truth. If we have not given up our mortal conviction that man is a human personality, capable of inflicting and of experiencing harm, we cannot expect to express the spontaneity that Truth bestows without measure. But if our understanding of man's perfection in Science remains steadfast, our sometimes adverse human experiences will strengthen us. Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 139), "Like the verdure and evergreen that flourish when trampled upon, the Christian Scientist thrives in adversity; his is a life-lease of hope, home, heaven; his idea is nearing the Way, the Truth, and the Life, when misrepresented, belied, and trodden upon."

It is our undestroyed human will, our solid conviction of personal life, that sometimes makes the trampling down of our natural joy seem possible. It is human will that feels crushed and finds inspiration waning. But the demonstration of God's will as the motive force of being restores and refreshes our assurances of reality. This we see expressed in the quick recognition of spiritual values, in the heart's leaping response to each new unfoldment of Science, in devotion to duty, and in the constant desire to demonstrate Truth in healing.

Spontaneity—irrespressible love and joy and understanding—starts with God; it evidences the self-expressiveness of Spirit, which never loses its vitality and which is ever manifested through man. Applying this fact to problems of dullness and loss of inspiration, we soon find our interest in things of Spirit revived and our unfoldment of the truth expanding into new fields of useful service. And thus we shall continue until the mist of material sense has fully vanished and we have proved our individual place in Mind's spontaneous outpouring of life and truth and love.

Helen Wood Bauman