Christ Jesus taught us to pray (Matt. 6:10), "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Do we feel that God's will is something that demands the impossible? Or perhaps that His will is to deprive us of the good and pleasant things in life? Do we regard the doing of God's will as dull righteousness or drab piety? Such an unhappy concept of God would make of Him a taskmaster, and the doing of His will mournful self-discipline. This is not the divine will and pleasure of which Paul wrote to the Philippians (Phil. 2: 13), "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

What is God's will? How can His will be done? Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 597), "Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrongdoer; hence it should not be confounded with the term as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities." Christian Science shows us that the will of God is wisdom, intelligence, power, dominion, perfection. As man is the image and likeness of his Maker, he must of necessity reflect divine qualities, and in the measure that we demonstrate these qualities, they bring health, harmony, and happiness into our human lives.

God's will created the universe. The Bible tells us that "he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps. 33:9). Everything real then, including man, is the expression of God's will. When one understands this and acts accordingly, he is able to think clearly and correctly. He makes right decisions and is never impatient or impulsive. He expects only good and awaits the orderly unfoldment and spiritual development of good in his experience. Good, then, is what worketh in us both to will and to do of God's pleasure.

To allow God's will to work in our thinking is to eliminate willful human outlining and planning with its consequent frustrations. When we bring ourselves into sympathy with the divine will, we submit to the divine pleasure. Proper spiritual preparation renders one receptive to God's will and protects one from the mistakes of human will. One who manifests divine qualities is not subject to mental collisions. He does not strive for human recognition. Neither does he yield to mental indolence, obstinacy, or stubbornness. He is not dominated by self-will, self-love, or self-justification. He is not passive or tempted to believe that he cannot understand the divine will or carry out the divine commission. He puts a false sense of self aside and takes his stand; he knows that as he demonstrates God's will he is equipped with a continuous and endless flow of spiritual thoughts which guide and direct all his motives and acts. This is a happy, joyous activity. It forms a powerful mental perimeter of good which is a thus-far-and-no-farther to willful suggestions of the human mind. It meets the demands of the day and brings with it a sense of peace and calm.

The freedom which countless numbers have received through the study of Christian Science was made possible because Mrs. Eddy put God's will before human desires and ambitions. Through obedience to the behests of divine Mind she healed many who were considered incurable and restored them to health and usefulness. Such demonstrations confirm that God's will is being done "in earth, as it is in heaven," even as Jesus proved that it was.

To one struggling with seemingly intolerable human conditions, it may seem a colossal task to be patient and listen obediently for God's directing, especially when material ways and means of solution look attractive. Such means, at best, are only temporary; and often one has found that he has to repeat the steps which he has taken without divine guidance. He may ask himself how he is to know whether it is God's will which is governing him or his own selfish desire. If the desire brings him closer to God and furthers his spiritual progress, then he may be sure that he is doing the divine bidding. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 Mrs. Eddy states (p. 10), "All that worketh good is some manifestation of God asserting and developing good."

The writer remembers the experience of an individual who learned that self-will does not bring happiness. Instead of patiently working out her salvation in accordance with God's plan, she seemed determined, through human planning and scheming, to make certain circumstances and conditions conform to what she had materially outlined. The self-centered pressure of her own erroneous thinking resulted in a long period of physical distress which abruptly terminated all of her plans and activities.

During the dark days while she was struggling to find the road back to health, she turned wholeheartedly to the Bible and the Christian Science textbook for guidance. She turned away from human reasons and solutions and waited for God's will to be manifested in her consciousness. She began to pray earnestly. She faithfully obeyed the spiritual intuitions which came as a result of her prayers. A desire to live according to the teachings of Jesus and to demonstrate them as Mrs. Eddy had designated became uppermost in her thought. When she became humble enough to let God's will govern her motives and acts, her health was restored. The words of the Psalmist became a reality in her experience (Ps. 40:1, 2): "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."

What seems good or desirable humanly may not be what best promotes our spiritual growth; that which promotes God's purpose is already ours and is revealed naturally through spiritual unfoldment. We must know that God is in complete charge of His creation, and that His will is operating individually and collectively. God's will is not blind, stubborn, or selfish. It does not make impossible demands. It works for us and not against us and is the only real answer to problems, one's own or the world's. Our Leader confirms this in "Miscellaneous Writings" where she says (p. 185): "The will of God, or power of Spirit, is made manifest as Truth, and through righteousness,—not as or through matter,—and it strips matter of all claims, abilities or disabilities, pains or pleasures. Self-renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that opens the very floodgates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demonstrating the true image and likeness."