Of all God's promises to His children, it is doubtful if any offer more satisfying rewards than those held out as the fruits of a willing heart and mind. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, reminds us in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 323, 324), that "willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea."Many are willing to acknowledge Christ, Truth, even to dedicate their lives to loving work in Christian Science; yet there are never enough consecrated laborers to bear "the burden and heat of the day." The weary, sin-sick world looks to Christian Science for relief; and can we give these hungry ones anything less than the true bread of Life?
Oh, if these dear ones who are restless, dissatisfied, unutterably weary of wandering in the Adam-dream of materiality, who perchance are rebellious, who feel themselves unwanted, who believe that they, like Esau, have lost their birthright, could know the bliss, the peace, that is the recompense of steadfast, unfaltering obedience, of glad surrender to divine law and to infinite Love, they would be more willing to conform their thoughts of how things ought to be done to the perfect will of God, and not only would cooperate with those in authority, but would joyously accept the one Mind as the only reality.
The cry of humanity ascends: I am not ready; I have so little understanding; I am too fond of the flesh-pots to lay all on the altar; I may have to give up intellectual pride, willfulness, little indulgences that seem harmless enough; fixed habits of thought; perhaps the approval of relatives and friends; traditional beliefs! Who knows but that I may have to part with my heart's idol? That voluble snake-talker, evil, whispers that there is plenty of time; that we have all eternity in which to overcome faults of disposition and material beliefs, and to become perfect. The adversary stalks up and down, ever cajoling us to be wary in exchanging the old for the new, advising us to hold on to our personal opinions and material possessions a while longer. Often he persuades us that our own will, our old beliefs, are far the best—and why should we not think and act and love as we please?
