PATIENCE, untinged by resignation, is a spiritual, steadfast quality which abides through the long watches, and is at last crowned with the joy of demonstration. Mortals who fear that they may fail before dawn breaks into the morning of salvation are not yet relying absolutely on divine Mind for perpetual expression of faith, patience, fidelity, inspiration, and spiritual courage. The definition of "mortal mind," on pages 591 and 592 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," clearly shows that this so-called mind can neither supply these grand qualities nor hinder their expression; for these qualities are gifts of God, the never failing tokens of the omnipresence and omnipotence of divine Mind. One who looks to God, divine Mind, for these qualities resists suggestions of discouragement and weakness, rises above the mists of self-deception, and learns to abide in the peace and safety of reflected love. The Michael and the Gabriel of God's presence are always here; and to the humble and receptive heart an innumerable company of angels always whisper the needed messages of divine protection, love, and strength.
One whose healing seems so gradual as to be almost imperceptible will find renewed inspiration in the parable of the ten virgins, in conjunction with the word "bridegroom." The parable states that "while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." We may be sure that on God's side there is no tarrying, no retarded reward, no inexplicable delay, no withholding, either of spiritual aid or of the pure consciousness of good. There is, on the contrary, a continuous outpouring from divine Mind of life, intelligence, love, and health. Slumber and sleep, then, refer to a fitful and intermittent quality of watching, or to a condition of materiality which is seemingly too dense to admit the ever present light of spiritual understanding. Fear, apathy, mental indolence, doubt, ingratitude, self-pity, envy, resentment, are slumbering states of mortal thought which cannot perceive the "bridegroom," or spiritual understanding of man.
Paul reminds his young converts that they are "children of the day;" and he adds: "We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." One who seems mentally asleep is oblivious of good because he is watching error, material symptoms and faults, rather than Truth. True, patient, sober thinking is inspired and rewarded by divine Love. Christian Science explains that the basis of all watchfulness is the scientific fact that God, divine Mind, "shall neither slumber nor sleep." As God is always mindful of His own ideas and they are always conscious of Him, it is from this spiritual basis that the student of Christian Science banishes all belief in sloth or discouragement, and claims that spiritual awakeness which is the reflection of God's clear and harmonious consciousness of all His creation. In omniscient divine Mind, divine Principle, the loving Father-Mother God, there is no oblivion, no forgetfulness, only constant, loving remembrance and support of each individual idea.
