OWING to the business and financial depression, there are today throughout the world many who are turning their thought toward the subject of restoration. Mortal mind claims to give men the power to create and accumulate great wealth, to place them in positions of importance, and then to destroy what has been amassed and reduce them to a state of impoverishment. Here "man's extremity" becomes "God's opportunity," restoring to those who seek it the true concept of substance. This restorative process in human thinking is succinctly defined by Mrs. Eddy when she says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 96)"The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears."
The process of restoration or reconstruction should be understood and carried on by every individual, whether or not he has suffered losses. The first step in this process must be the mental preparation indicated in the words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven." The honesty which enables the individual to recognize his poverty of spirituality also helps him straightway to begin to acquire the needed spiritual qualities, such as courage, confidence, patience, trust in spiritual power, and willingness to begin again. These qualities, partaking of the power of divine Mind, act as an antidote to fear, disappointment, discouragement, and defeat, and produce fresh inspiration of spiritual strength and fortitude. The thought thus disciplined is prepared to receive the spiritual understanding of God's law of health, wealth, and happiness.
We must place our trust in real substance, Spirit, not in material possessions, and learn to work from this basis. When we understand that real business is the activity of God's ideas, and is under the control of divine Love, continually expressing abundance, we see that it has no contact with economic cycles, competitive power, or the dominating influence of materialism. Therefore, real business, as known to God, is never in need of healing.
