The current interest in do-it-yourself projects appealed to me in a new light the other day when I realized how surely Christian Science enables the student of this Science to rely progressively on himself as he learns of his true relation to God. He finds that inventiveness, inspiration, originality, belong to him as the spiritual expression of omniscient Mind, and he begins to enjoy new skills and fresh viewpoints he did not know were his.
When anyone accepts the Christian Science teaching that the one, infinite divine Mind, God, is his Mind by reflection, he cannot escape the logical and comforting conclusion that all the abilities and capacities inherent in this Mind are his to utilize.
Spiritual wholeness and completeness unfold to him as the truth of his being. And he has the joy of knowing that since God, divine Being, is one, is impartial, universal, and boundless, that therefore good, continually unfolding, is available to all. He sees, then, how baseless and unreal are beliefs of lack and of limiting fears and how powerless they are to circumscribe intelligent thought, action, and accomplishment.
One greatly loves this spiritual appearing, through inspiration and revelation, of the infinite possibilities of being and rejoices in each proof of the unreality of limitation. One such experience has been a veritable milestone to me. When I was growing up, many things were made easy for me. As a result a disinclination to work grew into a belief of inability to do certain things for myself. One of these was to work with figures.
When it became necessary for me to be responsible for the expenditure of money and to keep my accounts, I dreaded balancing my books and postponed it as long as possible. Thus mistakes accumulated. I was convinced that I lacked the knowledge or the aptitude to work with figures.
Much rebellion, frustration, and unhappiness accompanied each session with the account books. Nor did it help me to have someone else do it; this only made me more certain that I lacked qualities someone else had. And so self-pity was added to my unhappiness.
The time came when I had to do this task myself. At last I turned unrebelliously and prayerfully to God. Suddenly the thought came, "Why, you balanced the Reading Room books perfectly and easily when you were serving as librarian!" This was a startling revelation. It meant that I could no longer use the excuse of inability.
Suddenly I saw that "I can't" had all this time been simply a mask for "I won't." "I won't" had been causing the trouble, for it expressed the rebellious nature of the carnal mind, which resists discipline and is enmity to God, good.
Having uncovered the counterfeit nature of the error, I reversed it with the declaration, "I will." There was a grateful yielding to the divine will. Soon the proof of "I can" was evidenced in accurate accounts. "I can't" does not go unchallenged now. There is no excuse for it, no disguise for it to hide behind to perpetuate its tyrannical limitations.
It is a joy to learn to be willing and to see that as willingness is cultivated we can have painless progress. In fact, we find that we can do anything that it is right for us to do, that is properly ours to do, if we are willing to grow in the understanding of Truth.
Mary Baker Eddy lovingly points the way in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." She writes (pp. 323, 324): "Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear,—this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony."
However, the desire to do it yourself should never become the equivalent of a personal, willful determination. This phase of error or mortal mind is often made up of pride, desire for praise, and personal ambition. It too is unwholesome, for it is error masquerading as good. It is based on the false belief in a personal, private mind and private, or personal, good.
Mrs. Eddy tells us (ibid., p. 420): "If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves, they need only to know that error cannot produce this unnatural reluctance."
If under his own work one is progressing, that is proof that he can do it himself. If he is not, why should he hesitate to avail himself of Christian Science treatment which our Leader has provided and to which God will guide him? The humility that is willing to ask and grateful to receive is frequently the very quality needed for receptivity to Truth and its ever-available healing power.
In every case, whether healing comes through what is called one's own efforts or those of a Christian Science practitioner, it is the Christ—the true idea of impartial, universal divine Principle, God—that does the work. We have a right not only to expect healing in Christian Science but to demand it. We are told in the third chapter of Acts that the man who was healed "at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful" expected to receive something from Peter and John.
When seeking guidance, inspiration, or healing, we need to turn thought expectantly to God, gratefully knowing His omnipotence, omnipresence, and goodness. We must accept our true status as His beloved children. It follows, of course, that we deny error a place in our thinking. No one can accept this scientific affirmation and denial for us.
We would not really want anyone to do our thinking for us in Science, for that would mean willingness to relinquish our crown of rejoicing. However, a genuine Christian Science treatment is a most precious blessing, and we should avail ourselves of it when it is needed.
A sense of self-condemnation because we have not found the solution to a problem quickly should never prevent our seeking help. Mrs. Eddy tells us that the erring human mind needs something beyond itself for its redemption. The humility necessary to acknowledge this and to seek help brings the joyous discovery of God's great love for us. It also forestalls suffering and prevents the burden of an accumulation of unsolved problems.
Whether the metaphysical work is done by the patient or the practitioner, it is the light of Truth that brings the healing. The practitioner, aware of the patient's spiritual power to resuscitate himself through Christ, Truth, supports the patient's every right effort.
We can do more for ourselves through prayer than we are sometimes aware of. And we can do a great deal more for our own progress by more thorough study of the Bible and of Mrs. Eddy's writings with the aid of the Concordances to them.
Progress is a divine law; therefore progress is irresistible, ever present, and ours. Let us not give up easily, but work a little harder, that is, more earnestly, prayerfully, and expectantly. And let us also accept gratefully every provision for our spiritual progress available in Christian Science.
Jesus' command to the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:8), "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," was also a demand. The command indicated Jesus' spiritual understanding of the man's ability to rise and walk, and he demanded obedience to this divine fact, a yielding up of the mortal belief of impotency and the demonstration of individual spiritual ability.
We have the assurance that it is possible for each one of us to give up the belief in a lack of ability to express God. Mrs. Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 5), "Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science comes to reveal man as God's image, His idea, coexistent with Him—God giving all and man having all that God gives."
