"The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality" (Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, p. 487). Here our Leader combines absolute statements referring to Life with the application of this truth to the human sense of existence. Whenever absolute truth is applied to a human situation, an improvement is brought about: for example, in the quotation above, our days are lengthened by our strengthened trust in Life.

But what may we expect added years to bring us? Not decrepitude, loneliness, uselessness If so, these added years would be valueless. When they are rightly understood as a time in which to demonstrate a better sense of Life as God, these added years will bring either the opportunity for continuous service or the accomplishment of a project that had to be brushed aside in earlier years. Such a prospect is worth planning for and looking forward to.

The lengthening of our days should not be devoid of enthusiasm and expectancy. The qualities of Soul, Spirit, are forever expressed in man, and there is no point at which the opportunity to manifest these qualities is not present. In Revelation (21: 5) it is recorded, "He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." As one refuses to accept added years as anything but the threshold to an enriched experience, an entirely new period of activity must necessarily open up.

It is not unusual for people in their eighties and nineties to make outstanding contributions in their particular fields of activity. Mrs. Eddy, who followed closely the teachings of Christ Jesus, furthered the healing activity of the Christian Science movement by establishing The Christian Science Monitor when she was in her late eighties.

On page 246 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood." Then she adds, "Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise."

Immortality is not a state that we shall enter through dying. It is the present fact of our being. The more we claim immortality for ourselves, as Jesus did for himself, the less conscious we shall be of either youth or old age, because these are merely human concepts and have nothing to do with immortal being.

As human thought grasps the facts that God, Life, is deathless; that this Life is in reality the Life of each individual manifestation of God; and that spiritual endowments such as individual faculties, capacities, and qualities are ours forever, we shall free ourselves from the fear of death. Spiritual qualities, such as intelligence, intuition, foresight, are to be utilized eternally; they can never be confined, can never end, and can never become obsolete or decadent.

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord," sang the Psalmist (Ps. 118:17). The ultimate purpose of life is to "declare the works of the Lord" in whatever we may do. These works have nothing to do with time. They are to be declared forever.

We have no hesitancy in honoring outstanding men and women for their contributions to the welfare of others. This honor is due them. But we really show our appreciation of their works in making our own works more valuable. At this particular time the people of the United States gratefully pay tribute to one who is often referred to as the father of his country. They think of George Washington as having been called to serve as President of the United States when he was an elderly man; yet he was only in his fifties. Today many men in their fifties are considered to be in their prime. Such is the change which has been wrought in less than two centuries.

In his first Inaugural Address, President Washington mentioned that he had hoped to spend the latter part of his life in retirement. But when the call came for higher service, he responded to it. He gave unselfishly of his abilities and experiences in the way that he was well fitted to do, and his term of office left its influence upon the world.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24). God's day has nothing to do with the calendar of time. It is a constant unfoldment of His infinite plan for His spiritual creation. Each one of us is an integral part of that creation.

We read in Science and Health (p. 66): "Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love."

Ralph E. Wagers