WATCH

[Of Special Interest to Children]

MARY JANE BACON

A Soldier when on guard duty needs to remain very wide-awake at his post. He must be quite sure that it is a friend whom he allows to pass, and not an enemy in disguise.

As soldiers of Christian Science we must be on guard. Our watch, however, is to be kept at the door of thought, and only good thoughts should be allowed to pass. The door must be firmly shut on everything not Godlike. We must be on guard against such enemy thoughts as resentment and impatience when we are shown a fault.

How well Habakkuk must have known this when he wrote (2:1), "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." He determined to listen for God's voice.

A little girl, Mary Baker, loved to hear what God said to the holy men and women about whom she read in the Bible. Especially did she love to read of what Jesus said and did. The Bible reveals that he always listened for his Father to direct him. John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus once said (8:26), "I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him."

Little Mary Baker strove to follow the example of Christ Jesus and in doing this, grew ever more loving and unselfish. This enabled her to receive, in later years, all the beautiful truths which God revealed to her. Mary Baker Eddy recorded these truths in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

If we would watch successfully, we must first learn to know the difference between friendly and unfriendly thoughts. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us (p. 525): "Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make,—hence its unreality." From these words we learn that whatever God made is Godlike, good and true—a reality; what He did not make is neither good nor true—an unreality. A thing or thought cannot be almost right; neither can it be just a little wrong. It is either right or wrong.

Sometimes, however, an unreality may seem very real to us. And unless we understand that it is an error, we may be deceived; we may even be afraid of it. An experience of the writer's may help to explain this. One summer evening, when she was quite a little girl, she was walking with her father in the country. They strolled through meadows out onto a highroad, where they met a friend with whom her father stopped to chat. In the middle of a sentence the friend paused, then said excitedly, "Look behind you!" Quickly they turned and saw—not meadows, but houses, and fishing smacks moored in a harbor!

The father explained to his wondering daughter that they were not looking at real houses and fishing boats, but that the atmosphere, acting as a mirror, had just then caught the reflection of a fishing port some miles away. He also explained that such a reflection was called a mirage. This was quite a new word to her, but she has learned since then that a mirage may appear very real and solid, but it is never more than an illusion—that is, something that seems to be present, but is not.

For ages mankind has accepted the lie that God made man from dust. Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 300), "The mirage, which makes trees and cities seem to be where they are not, illustrates the illusion of material man, who cannot be the image of God." Here our Leader speaks of material man as not to be deceived or taken in by this illusion.

Our consciousness of God's all-goodness is our true selfhood, which we must express and guard. For instance, we should practice love and gentleness. If we should see an unkind deed and are not standing upon our watch, our face may flush with anger. Had we been on guard, we should have seen anger for what it is—an enemy—and shut it out. So we see how important it is to obey the order of Christ Jesus, the Way-shower (Mark 13:37), "I say unto all, Watch."

Each one of us has to guard his own consciousness. He alone can do this; he alone knows what thoughts come to him for admitance. Yet no loyal sentinel stands alone at his post. Jesus said of the Christ (Matt. 28:20), "Lo, I am with you alway."

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