ONE of the immeasurably important factors of life is environment, and other things being equal, he who wins the largest number of spiritual suggestions from his surroundings will make the best showing in his Christian progress and achievements. Place, friends, opportunities. —these are the things that determine the influences of which the average individual is largely a resultant.
Among these shaping factors nature is, or may become, one of the most determinative, and for the reason that we are always in its presence, and many of its phenomena bring us so much pleasure that we are ever supplying ourselves with opportunities to come face to face with them, by going to the country, by filling our windows and gardens with flowers, or by covering our walls with paintings or photographs of specially loved scenes and faces. It is apparent, therefore, that if this fact of our persistent contact with nature can be made to contribute to our spiritual inspiration and advance, it will prove of very great and abiding value, and the reason for Christ Jesus' frequent retirement to the isolation of the hills and the sky will be better understood.
Think, for a moment, what it would mean to us if every time we look upon a sunset or starry night, a field or flowing stream, a flower, a bird, a pearl or a precious stone, thought were "understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but without material accompaniments," as Mrs. Eddy has prophesied it will "finally be" (Science and Health, p. 310), and which it surely was to her in large measure when she wrote the "Voices of Spring" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 329). What a magical secret this would prove! What a contribution the commonest, every-day things would then make to our realization of the omnipresence of Life, Truth, and Love! How much of "Godlike courage and calm" experience would bring us, and how we should rejoice in this fuller understanding of the psalmist's words, "Whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
