Continuing Strength

MARJORIE BRANCH McKIBBIN

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."^{Deut. 33:25:}

So we read in the Bible. But what about days when we tend to wake up feeling tired and depleted—days filled with plans, duties, appointments, in which alertness and judgment are all-important? These are times when Christian Science can help us prove the truth of this biblical promise.

Do we believe that our strength depends upon material conditions—that its source is found in nerves and muscles? Does the body generate strength? Our answers to these questions are important. If we feel that our daily affairs are subject to regulation and government by physicality, good or bad, then we are limiting our capacities and abilities. The man we really are—God's idea —never needs to be recharged! "We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth,"^{Science and Health, p. 80;} Mrs. Eddy assures us. In reality there is no ebb and flow of strength, for it flows to us from God, its infinite source. When we realize this, we bring to bear on our lives more of the good that God is constantly giving out. This inexhaustible source of good always sustains us, and we can never be separated from it. God's consciousness of His own perfection constitutes our true being.

Strength, like truthfulness, flows from God. Man expresses both these qualities because he expresses God. They do not flow through a faucet that can be turned on and off. The book of James states it this way: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."^{James 1:17;} There is not even the slightest possibility that God, Spirit, will ever change. If the original remains constant, then the reflection or image, man, has no choice but to do the same.

The reason we may sometimes find it easier to accept truthfulness as an attribute of God than to acknowledge strength as such is that through human education we have come to believe the body generates strength. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery."^{Science and Health, pp. 380-381;} She also assures us, "Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength."^{ibid., p. 183.}

By controlling our thinking through spiritual self-knowledge, we control our experience. We do not need long periods of sleep for energy-building in order to repair our strength. As God's reflection we have never for an instant stopped expressing spiritual strength, for we have never stopped evidencing Christ, the spiritual man.

We each can affirm our absolute inviolable unity with God, and have a developing concept of the magnitude of what this means in daily life. Then we all will prove for ourselves our unfailing strength in being more nearly what we really are.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Who Says You Can't Do Math?

December 14, 1974

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit