Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount has a few passages that I have squirmed over. One of these that I now regard as comforting is the beautiful "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" ^{Matt. 6:25.}

It isn't that I wouldn't always have answered "Yes" to Jesus' question; who wouldn't! But did I always obey the admonition which precedes it?

The divergence, at least so I found, lay in the sometimes mammoth effort it took to provide what many call the basic necessities—food, clothing, and shelter. This effort appeared to demand very much taking of thought for the body especially during a time when I found myself as a newlywed in the position of being both a homemaker and a breadwinner. My husband was still in college and working only part time.

Homemakers, I quickly learned, not only prepare meals, they plan and market for them. It takes time to shop for affordable clothing, to exchange items that don't prove suitable, even to keep clean what we make do with. Furnishing and maintaining a home proves to be a demanding, often expensive proposition. Therefore breadwinners would appear no less than homemakers to be servants of the body. Obtaining the wherewithal to pay for all of the above consumes a considerable portion of time, energy,... and thought, which brings us back to Jesus' admonition "Take no thought ... for your body."

As I began to study Christian Science, there was increasing joy in learning that feeding, clothing, and housing our bodies need not make us feel like slaves to matter. And I was later delighted when I found that Bible scholars agree with the new view of Jesus' words that I had gained through experience supported by the growing understanding of Christian Science. One book says, "... the Greek word rendered 'take thought' comes from a noun meaning literally 'care' or 'worry'...." ^{Thomas L. Leishman and Arthur T. Lewis, The Bible Handbook (New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1966), p. 262 .}

Taking unperturbed, prayerful thought for the body is certainly not unchristian. In fact, our attitudes toward meeting human needs can make a great difference in our Christianity. Being homemakers and breadwinners can offer us much more than the mere earning and spending of a paycheck to finance creature comforts. Using whatever duties fall to us as opportunities to improve our character and live for mankind promotes ongoing spiritual progress.

Being a homemaker can be viewed as a mission to express love; to foster peace in the home and neighborhood; to cultivate wisdom, ingenuity, patience, stamina, and thrift; and to encourage the spiritual growth of each member of the family. Being a breadwinner can develop individual capacities for unselfishness, diligence, affability, generosity, teamwork, and service to the community. Approached as a spiritual opportunity, fulfilling the tasks of a homemaker and/or a breadwinner does not conflict with obedience to the divine will that under-girds Jesus' command to refrain from undue physical thought-taking.

To discern the divine will we must discern the nature of both God and His man. God is infinite good, the Father-Mother of all real being. As the likeness of God, who is Spirit or Mind, His man is incorporeal—harmonious, perfect, and complete. Man, our true nature, does not have a physique to feed, clothe, and shelter; man's identity is wholly spiritual, directly substantiated, nourished, and encompassed by God, ineffable Love.

Understanding in some degree the nature of our true identity urges the change of outlook that sees beyond a merely physical sense of existence. Increasing spiritual understanding demands a corresponding spiritualization of daily life that draws us into conformity with our incorporeal, Godlike selfhood.

We can work out in homely and businesslike ways the divine ideal exemplified by Jesus. Although counseling us against distraction by excessive worldly concerns, he apparently saw no inconsistency between caring for human needs and serving God. He provided for the care of his mother. And on various occasions he supplied and prepared food for his followers. But emulating our Exemplar also requires us to follow his instructions to watch our thoughts and to observe the moral code established in the Bible for protection of the home and family. We can learn to stay as he did on the divine heights of the spiritual understanding that helps us keep lofty ideals in view even when we're doing mundane chores.

I well recall dealing somewhat resentfully, in the days before permanent-press fabrics, with stacks of ironing that awaited weekly attention to the tune of at least one full evening after eight-to-five office hours. When I became a student of Christian Science, I found that while ironing I had to work especially hard to keep my thought from sinking into weariness, vexation, and boredom, and from feeling trapped again, having to take thought for clothing the body. So I formed the habit of listening intently, while I ironed, to recordings of Mrs. Eddy's writings, including Science and Health. Not only did my ironing improve, but I came to look forward to doing it. And I always finished it feeling inspired and refreshed for the next household duty, ready to translate another menial routine into a lively expression of moral and spiritual qualities.

Since then I have continued to learn how, even in times of sickness and want, the law of divine Love acts on the human scene to meet our needs and provide for our spiritual growth. Science and Health states, "The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal interfere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of erring, human concepts." ^{Science and Health, p. 62.}

Jesus' invitation in his Sermon on the Mount to "Consider the lilies" ^{Matt. 6:28.} that gloriously grow, although they neither toil nor spin, turns our thoughts away from flesh to Spirit, from false responsibility to joy in our work. Doing the best we can with whatever task is at hand—by making each task an opportunity for a spiritual lesson—involves the right kind of thought-taking, the prayer that lifts us to perceive the healing and caring presence of immortal Love.

Carolyn B. Swan