At six years of age I had scarlet fever, and became subject to all the laws made for me by mortal mind, and they are many in connection with that disease. The seeming physical suffering I should not have minded so much, as the supposed lack of nervous energy and of brain power. There were years when I, could not read or study, when I had to entertain a longing for knowledge, with no hope of satisfying it, and this seemed to make life unbearable. Then when it was darkest the light came, the understanding in some degree of the one Mind which is ours by right of reflection,— the truth given to us in Science and Health.
Mrs. Eddy says, "When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual material labor is carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies cannot wear out, nor trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality" (Science and Health, p. 38). In proportion as we grasp this truth and demonstrate it are our mental labors lightened. This understanding makes up the years we had thought wasted. It destroys all hopeless longing for material knowledge, and we are thankful for the experiences, however hard, that caused us to be led to Truth.
When error tries to tempt us and great clouds seem to come between us and the one Mind, we cling to the Science of being, and though we go through days and days of seeming darkness we emerge into the light again, in possession of just that much more understanding which we have demonstrated in overcoming the darkness, and thus we thank God and take courage.
