Are we, as Christian Scientists, proving in our lives that "perfect love casteth out fear"? Is our living sufficiently characterized by restfulness and unhurrying calm? We may, perhaps, be happily free from a great overshadowing fear, but if upon examination we find ourselves apparently tinged more or less with the subsidiaries of fear, we shall do well to take immediate steps toward their destruction. Fear must not be allowed place in our thinking simply because it seems to be of a trivial nature. Even the lesser forms of fear, such as apprehension, worry, timidity, nervousness, tension, must disappear, and the only thing that will make them disappear is the understanding of God as Love. As we turn more constantly to God for help and guidance in every little thing, as we realize that nothing is too small for His consideration, all the little problems, duties, undertakings, encounters, and conversations that comprise the human day will be divinely directed and healed. It is by continually resting with confidence in God that thought about the ordinary affairs of every day, is transformed from a vague expectancy of evil into the childlike realization of good.
Among the so-called smaller fears, the fear of lack of time seems to harass many persons. Paradoxically enough, the persons with the most leisure seem to be those most affected by the suggestions of hurry, nervousness, and lack of time, which easily proves that something other than time is needed by them. Women of leisure who have a hundred little calls on their time and attention often find themselves more burdened than those who go each day to their work. They may be, at times, so overwhelmed by the number of things it is apparently necessary for them to do that they cry out in despair for release and freedom. Under these conditions it is sometimes advisable to look over one's daily activities and to give up the more unnecessary ones, but while this may sometimes be wise, it does not heal the situation. If one decides to lop off ruthlessly certain cherished doings, he will still feel that he is giving up something important, for the reason that to the material thought material things seem of consequence, and if merely the outward symbol of the inner desire is renounced, without thought itself being purged and healed, life is still as troubled as it was before. To the question, "What, then, does heal the situation?" Truth returns the gentle answer, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." As thought leaves the world and draws near to Christ, it is healed. In proportion as we give our time to contemplating spiritual realities, we find that our daily routine becomes harmonious. By giving our first, best, and continued effort to acquiring spiritual understanding our concept of living is healed,—thought is cleansed, material desires drop away, the various interests in our lives take their rightful proportion and place, some consciousness of man's endless being is attained, and thought begins to apprehend the statement of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 584), "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded."
If the fear of lack of time may be considered a passing phase of complex modern existence, the fear of lack of substance dates from time itself. The gaining of material substance was probably the subject primitive mortals thought most about, and, after thousands of years of progress, it is yet one of the chief subjects occupying thought. Men are still feverishly asking themselves, "How shall carnality be fed, and how shall carnality be housed and clothed?" The only possible healing for this elemental fear of mortal mind lies in the explanation of man and substance as given in Christian Science. When thought is ready to accept the pure teaching of Christian Science that God is Spirit, that Spirit is infinite, that Spirit, therefore, is the only substance, that man is spiritual and needs only spiritual substance or divine ideas, and that he is in possession of these unlimited ideas now, and always; when thought is ready to apply this spiritual wisdom to practical affairs, healing of fear of lack of substance is manifested in freer and richer human experience.
