WHEN out of Love's abundance there comes a cessation of the ordinary routine, a time of refreshment in "green pastures" and "beside the still waters," we may take it gratefully, not so much for the benefit of rest, or change of scene, as for the opportunity it offers for spiritual unfoldment. To a healthy, growing Christian Scientist wider fields of thought and study are ever opening up, but these require a broader margin than the busy day with its manifold demands can give. To such a one a season like this will come not as a time to drop into the enjoyment of mere physical pleasures, however simple and innocent, but as an opportunity, at once serious and happy, to use the leisure, the quiet and peace of nature, as a spiritual impulsion, a deepening of the realization of eternal realities.
To accomplish this, one must not merely drift along subject to the whim of every passing suggestion and personal desire, but with the determined purpose of an end in view seek ever to dwell in an atmosphere of quiet spiritual receptivity, attuned to the harmonies of sky, tree, and water. As an example we have before us the method of Jesus, referring to which Mrs. Eddy says: "A fishingboat became a sanctuary, and the solitude was peopled with holy messages from the All-Father. The grove became his class-room, and nature's haunts were the Messiah's university" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 91).
To obtain the best results, study must be systematic and thorough. Regular hours must be set apart as sacred to this end, and these should be protected by knowing that Mind is ever active and steadfast in accomplishing its purpose. Such a time was spent by a few Christian Scientists in a beautiful retired spot in northern Ontario. The day began with the quiet, prayerful study of the week's Lesson-Sermon, which opened the mind wide to the realities of being and thus blessed the whole day, multiplying and enlarging its sense of good. Then came little outings by lake or river, attended always by nature studies, each new bird and flower seen giving a sense of keen and pure delight. The influence of the morning's Lesson-Sermon was very real and precious, keeping the thought on the spiritual universe and the heart welling up with gratitude and praise to the creator.
