Who hasn't prayed such a prayer? I know I have, and more than once. After all, even Jesus at one time prayed, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me." ^{Mark 14:36;}

Of course, we can't possibly compare what Jesus was facing then and what we have to face in our daily lives now. But it's always been reassuring to me to know that a person of Christ Jesus' great understanding and steadfast dominion had a time when he, too, "wanted out." But he didn't let his prayer rest there, as we so often do. He went on, "Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" or, as Luke records it, "Not my will, but thine, be done." ^{Luke 22:42;} This brought in a whole new dimension.

When we're wanting out of an unbearable situation at home, impossible working conditions on the job, or, perhaps, a dull, meaningless day-to-day existence, do we sincerely pray for God's will to be done? Jesus did. And what had seemed to be total disaster for him ended up an everlasting victory. He didn't lose anything by going all the way in letting God's will be done. And neither will we, as we honestly and prayerfully face up to what we must do in our so-called hopeless dilemma.

Mrs. Eddy describes the depth of Jesus' prayer that night in the Garden of Gethsemane: "When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: 'Not my will, but Thine, be done!'—that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in me. This is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all for Christ, or Truth." ^{Science and Health, p. 33;} Sometimes we say, "We're giving our all," but are we? When we're so preoccupied with wanting out, are we really willing to let Spirit—infinite Spirit, or God—be represented in us? Are we willing to quit dragging our feet and start expressing more of our true, spiritual selfhood?

Human will clouds our view of ourselves, of our own God-given capabilities. It stubbornly hangs on to our limited solution, claiming to know how the miserable situation can best be resolved. All this promotes fear, doubt, and despair. But relinquishing human will for God's will helps us gain "the new understanding of spiritual Love," divine Love, or God, that heals and corrects the situation.

Since divine Love is only good, its will for man is only good. It includes wholeness, not incompleteness; joy, not sorrow; security, not aimless drifting. Within this Love is absolute immunity from discord, affliction, injustice, indignity, or exploitation.

The man we're talking about here is not material—flesh and bones. He is the spiritual entity that Christian Science reveals—untouched by any fleshly scene, unjarred by human agitation, unmoved by circumstances. God's man, the man we really are, is forever secure and intact, beloved and protected.

Even a glimpse of this "new understanding of spiritual Love" helps us see that the man God has created never needs out, because he's never been in matter. He's never been involved in any kind of bungling human plight or frustrating situation. In answering the question "Would you have me get out of a burning house, or stay in it?" Mrs. Eddy says, "I would have you already out, and know that you are out." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 335;} This kind of knowing—spiritual knowing—based on the fact of man's present harmony as the son of God, gets us going in the right direction. We become more aware of the goodness of God's will for us and willing to trust it, however desperate our situation may seem.

We're ready, then, to stop our mental foot-dragging, to let Spirit be expressed through us in thought, word, and action. We start accepting our true, immortal selfhood as the man of God's creating, and are more inclined to hold to an undeviating course. Mrs. Eddy has this to say of Jesus when the scourge and cross awaited him: "Yet he swerved not, well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness." ^{Science and Health, p. 20.}

Obeying the divine order knocks old human will right out of the picture. Trusting God, divine Love, gives us a basis to express the fortitude and joy we need to go forward. We become more alert to give our all, to give up self-love for thoughtfulness, resentment for forgiveness, and dissatisfaction for a more active concern for others. Such active witnessing to God's will in our lives saves us from retracing our steps. It brings into our daily experience healing, happiness, and the right kind of human adjustment, the kind that blesses all concerned.

I've seen proof of this many times. In each case, before I found my peace and freedom, I had to discover that I was already "out." All I had to do was to obey the divine will. My wife and I had a simple experience one summer. We were taking a trip in the southern part of the United States, in an un-air-conditioned car, with three preschool children. The weather outside the car was hot and miserable. The climate inside was even worse.

One child in particular spent the first day whining, fussing, and creating one uproar after another. My wife and I reasoned, hollered, and spanked, but got no results. Many times I was tempted to tum the car around and forget the whole thing. Did I want out!

But before starting the next day, I prayed. I began to realize we were having trouble on our trip because of our own troubled thinking—because we were believing that we had along three immature children who would probably cause difficulty. I prayed to see that each child in that car was the child of God, never in matter, never immature but always the very expression of perfection. I didn't need out, either, because I was not a material mortal trapped in a set of crazy circumstances. Perfection was God's will for man, the man each of us really was.

My wife was praying along the same lines, and we saw we had to be less willful in what we wanted to do, and to be more thoughtful of the children. We looked for special events that would appeal to them. From then on the trip was great. Everyone had a fun time. One day we drove five hundred miles in terrible heat without any difficulty whatever from the back seat.

Experiences such as these help us see that what the Father wills for man is only good—and who wants out from good? We pray more fervently then, "Lord, I want in!"—in to a greater understanding of the good that God, divine Love, has for all of us.