One time when some young relatives came to visit me, they told me they were looking for snails and asked me if I had seen any. I told them I often saw them in the yard and had seen some that day in the front garden.

I wondered why snails held such fascination for children, as well as for adults, for I have an adult friend who has spent a lifetime studying shells and snails, and is a world authority, writer, and lecturer on them.

I asked this friend what the snail could teach us. He told me that among the qualities it may be said to possess are: durability, domesticity, adventurousness, and patience. The snail’s seemingly slow but determined progress suggests it has unlimited patience.

My friend added that John Bunyan’s poem “Upon a Snail” emphasizes the sureness of its progress. The Puritan writer and preacher writes: 

These words resonated beautifully with me, for they reminded me of another creature, “the tireless worm,” that Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, suggests also exemplifies patience. She writes, “Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping over lofty summits, persevering in its intent” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 515).

In an age of instant results and gratification, patience is not always held in high regard. Yet, the primary definition of patience in my dictionary is “tolerant and even-tempered perseverance” (Collins English Dictionary). A definite virtue! The word derives from the Latin patientia, which means “endurance.” It is in the sense of patient endurance, perseverance, and persistence that its use in the Bible can best be understood.

Because patience is a purely positive quality—one that is derived from God and inherent in us as His children—we are advised and encouraged in its demonstration in both the Old and New Testaments. For instance, the Psalmist tells us, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (40:1). And he advises us also to “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (37:7).

Later, in the New Testament, we read about the value and rewards of patience in Jesus’ parable of the sower, which he concludes by assuring us that those who receive the seed, or word of God, “on the good ground” are those “which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). And in Hebrews we find this exhortation: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (12:1). 

Clearly there was nothing passive, negative, inactive, nor laissez-faire about the patience they were advocating here. They considered patience to be a strong moral quality that required both spiritual courage and humility. In the case of the disciples and the early Church workers, they saw patience as indispensable to success, especially in their work as healers.

Often in the Bible the word patience is used in connection with “waiting.” Here again this is used in the sense of active waiting, rather than in any negative or inactive sense. I like the definition of waiting in my dictionary; one meaning is “hold in readiness.” This involves an active sense of expectancy, even an alertness and watchfulness—watching for and expecting to see evidences of God’s care, love, and grace in our lives and in the lives of humankind generally.

In Christian Science practice, we regard patience in its active, spiritual sense as involving persistence in knowing the truth of the spiritual perfection of man in God’s image and likeness until we see its harmonious results in healing. This is illustrated in the following statement in the Christian Science textbook: “When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony” (Science and Health, p. 495).

I have seen in my life the rewards of being steadfast in the truth. In my early years I suffered from a stammer, which prevented me from speaking freely; it was an embarrassment at school, and when chatting with others. But I knew I could be healed of this condition and never gave up hope that I could and would be free. 

When I joined a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I found partial freedom when giving testimonies. I found that, with the desire to give gratitude and with God’s support of that right desire, I was able (to my joy) to testify freely. I couldn’t wait to give another testimony, and have spoken freely giving testimonies ever since.

But in any other context I continued to struggle. I asked God for more patience and perseverance, and spiritual strength to overcome the temptation to feel discouraged. Then, when I was elected as a Reader in my church, I just knew that, as it was God’s work, He would be with my mouth (as He was with Moses’) and that, keeping in mind that I was His complete expression, I knew I could and would read without fear and with complete freedom. That proved to be the case, and I have gone on to read and speak freely in church and in public ever since. 

Since that wonderful healing, what I learned of the importance and value of patience—and of the sureness of its rewards—has stood me in good stead. I’ve come to realize more clearly that the problem never belonged to me as God’s man, His image and likeness, but had always been unknown and unreal to God, Truth, and was just a mirage, an illusion of mortal sense. It had only been a temptation to believe in it. The remedy was to stop fearing or believing it, but that definitely took patience and persistence in sticking to what is spiritually true.

Over the years, I have found great encouragement and inspiration from the healing of a fellow Englishman, who for many years epitomized this spiritual steadfastness and reaped its rewards (see Peter Henniker-Heaton, The Christian Science Journal, April 1955). As a young man, Peter was invalided out of the British Civil Service after being diagnosed with a paralysis for which doctors said there was little hope of a cure. Bedridden, but confident of healing through sole reliance on God, he persisted in his prayers for ten years until he was fully restored to health, and he went on to lead a very active life for many years after. 

Ironically, at the suggestion of some Christian Science friends who thought it would help him to keep his sense of humor while he was confined, Peter founded the British Snail-Watching Society in London, in 1945, and reported on its activities in The Christian Science Monitor, where he later edited the Home Forum page. 

In one of his columns,Peter noted that in addition to the snail’s capacity for patience was “the immense capacity of these lively, intelligent creatures for joy” offering “an example which humanity could profitably follow” (The Christian Science Monitor, “Snail Watch, 1960,” January 16, 1961).

Interestingly, “The Road of Patience,” one of his many published poems, says, in part: 

This linkage of joy with patience is important, for we can and should be joyful in our persistence. The Apostle Paul, who could speak with authority on this subject after the many hardships he endured, called joy “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). And James preached to certain Jewish Christians under the strain of persecution: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2–4). 

These followers of Christ Jesus recognized joy as a sign of one’s nearness and fidelity to Spirit, God. For them, patient persistence in following Jesus’ example was not a chore, nor a slog, nor a matter of simply gritting one’s teeth, but a spiritual demand that every child, man, and woman could joyfully fulfill. It involved an awakening to man’s God-given perfection, and to the realization that God’s plan for all of us is always good, making us happy.

Although we face tribulation at times in following Christ, we can, in the words of a beloved hymn, “rejoice / All the rugged way” (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 304), knowing that the rewards in healing and harmony are guaranteed and worth achieving. As we persevere in the truth as patiently as the snail does toward its destination, we will indeed see the fruits of our labor. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:35, 36).