The happiness of attending the January, 1898, Communion Service at the Mother Church in Boston, was mine. There I learned many things, and the uplifting of the occasion is with me still, a very palpable presence. One of the thoughts which clings most is to "despise not the day of its small beginnings." This took hold of my consciousness upon hearing these words of our Mother, read from her beautiful letter to the Church. "Seeing that we have to attain to the ministry of righteousness in all things, we must not overlook small things in goodness or badness, for 'trifles make perfection,' and 'the little foxes spoil the vines.'" It came home to me with overwhelming force that while I was waiting for some great demonstration to tell, I was entirely overlooking and making of no account the sweet little victories of Truth and Love over their seeming opposites which were taking place daily around me, and had failed to see how, because of their very simplicity, these would soonest reach the untutored thought, and be productive of good.
Thinking them unimportant, we are apt to keep back the "small beginnings" in Christian Science, forgetting that each trifling (?) demonstration of the power of the God-thought means the overcoming or destruction of one of those "trifles" which are said to "make up the sum of human affairs." One of the sweetest things about Christian Science is the way it has of rounding out the little sharp edges of daily life, and nothing being too insignificant for its application, its opportunities are many, even in the best regulated lives. Perhaps an angry thought has to be arrested, before it manifests itself in an angry word (S.&H. p. 448, line 26). I remember myself as a very quick-tempered and impetuous child. Under these moods I often said things for which I was sorry afterwards, and my mother would say, "Child, when you feel angry, count ten before you speak, and then you may not have to regret speaking." I tried this often, but generally by the time I reached seven, I was angrier than ever to think of my lost satisfaction. Now in such a case how quickly Christian Science prompts the only real alterative, "God is Love. I can and must reflect Him,"' after which mental declaration, to voice an angry thought would be to deny my Christ, and this no Christian Scientist dare wilfully do. If we "seek," we "shall find" in our blessed "little book" a precept for every temptation, backed by the Love which makes a demonstration thereof possible.
How can we be grateful enough to that dear Mother in Israel, who, "slumbering not nor sleeping" discerns the need of her children and supplies it before they have time to ask! It is noticeable that since we received that letter, the testimonial meetings have become much more spontaneous and pithy, because we have all learned that no demonstration, however small, is without its significance and place in the human struggle from sense to Soul, and is therefore worth speaking of. In this connection, let me tell of one which filled me at the time with a sweet and quiet happiness, though no great sense of its meaning came until after my visit to Boston.
