Above the angry roar of the breakers, if we listen for the voice of Christ, Truth, we shall hear it: "Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid." Storm-tossed, tempest-torn, the heavy waves o'erlapping us, we yet pause to listen for ever-present Love, and comes the refrain: "Be not afraid!"
I remember reading the story of one condemned to die for some state offense. The executioner was ready, axe in hand, when a little bird, lighting on a tree near by, commenced a sweet song. It caught the ear of the grim, red-handed man of law, as well as of him kneeling at the block. The executioner paused for one instant to listen, and so pausing saved the life of the condemned man, for a messenger, mounted on a snow-white steed, came riding toward that court-yard wall, shouting, "A reprieve for the prisoner." And later his innocence was proven, and he became celebrated for his good works. Perhaps I found a different lesson in the story then, than I would now, but I think the most of us realize that troubles and afflictions that seem to submerge us, if we do our duty and hold fast to God, are overcome for us, and we gain thereby. In one supreme moment, perhaps, they are destroyed, and we have the peace and rest that come from knowing they were not.
Love that is Divine, strength that is Infinite, is ours, and we are continuously rested and refreshed in the thought. As students of Christian Science we must be watchful that we bring out in our own thought that which we exhort others to. We cannot deviate from its rules and expect success. We say that it is as easy to do right as wrong, and yet the woeful elements of mortal mind we allow to drive us headlong into calamity and despair. We lose our moorings, we lose our courage, and the eternity of fable is before us, a raging, roaring sea and a black beyond.
