"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice," was the admonition of Paul, that pioneer of the early church; and with equal earnestness Christian Science to-day invites all mankind to do likewise. To one who thinks himself imprisoned, however, in the shackles of sickness or a victim of poverty or unemployment, it may seem difficult logically to comply with such a demand, particularly if one is accustomed to rejoice after, rather than before, a demonstration is made.
It is with our thoughts we are always engaged in the solution of any problem; and upon close examination it will be found that one of the chief obstacles to our expression of gratitude is the archenemy, discouragement, which is ever suggesting inability and so rendering us inactive. Whence this discouragement, inability, or helplessness, apparently, to rise out of and above inharmonious conditions? Does it not very largely spring from our ignorance of, and consequently our inability to use, the latent abilities which man reflects from God? Why could our beloved Leader give us in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 419), the inspiring, unqualified command, "Meet every adverse circumstance as its master"? Because she successfully followed her own injunction in the face of the fiercest bitterness, hatred, and misrepresentation. Surely it was upon divine power she so valiantly relied.
Christian Science with its liberating message brings new hope to the one in bondage. It teaches him that he is not the victim of circumstances; that these cannot force him into inharmony, but he can meet them as their master. It is helpful to note that "circumstance" comes from two Latin derivatives meaning "to stand around." If daily we can more and more realize that divine Love alone surrounds and supports us, that "we live, and move, and have our being" in spiritual abundance and harmony, no room for beliefs of poverty, hatred, or discords of the flesh will be able to constitute a false environment.
