ACCEPTANCE, as understood in Christian Science, is the act of receiving unto one's self—of making one's own—the priceless heritage of infinite good, in order that one in turn may send forth, may share with all mankind, the heavenly blessings which our Father-Mother God has prepared, even since the beginning, for all His beloved children. These gifts of His eternal love are already provided and at hand, to be accepted and enjoyed by all, without respect to race, creed, or circumstance; and we cannot enjoy them alone. Good is unselfish. As the ray of light reflects warmth, brightness, beauty from the parent sun, so in turn it shares with all the earth this same warmth, brightness, and beauty. One ray need not, indeed cannot, borrow from another or rob another of its richness; for each ray-reflects individually its full share of the sun's glory.
So it is with God and His perfect idea, man, whom He has endowed with infinite love, infinite wisdom, infinite ability, infinite harmony. As we understand this spiritual fact, we may, like the ray of light, share equally and bountifully in the unlimited legacy of good. Could the love of a just, honest, merciful father be scanty for one of his children and plentiful for another? We know that divine justice must necessarily be impartial. Yes, God's love is that open fount to which the Scriptures refer in these words: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." And we are all bidden to come ''without money and without price" to partake of this banquet of love to the fullest, even till our cup "runneth over." In the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. vii) Mrs. Eddy reassures the faltering heart with these positive words of constant and abundant supply: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings."
Then why is there any seeming lack, want, and woe? Why do some seem to possess much of this world's goods, whether it be wealth, happiness, or health, while others in poverty and ill health cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" If, as the Psalmist declared, "the Lord is my shepherd," why is not the assurance, "I shall not want," demonstrated by all? Is it not, perhaps, due to our own failure to accept the universal offering of divine Love, our own failure to obey the command, "Come ye to the waters"? These waters of Truth, which can save from every human ill, flow as freely for one as for another. But we have to come to the fount with an open mind, with a receptive thought.
