ON a beautiful fall day two students of Christian Science were walking on a deserted beach, their bare feet washed by the incoming tide. They had gone several miles enjoying the sparkling weather and engrossed in sharing their experiences, when suddenly one of them, the writer, gave a cry and stopped. A sharp object sticking out of the sand had practically torn the nail off one of her big toes. The pain was severe, and she was unable to bear her weight on the foot.
She said in distress: "What shall we do? I can't walk back to the car like this or even drive it."
Her friend replied, "You can walk one step, can't you?"
"But I can't walk several miles," the writer insisted.
The other was a practitioner of long experience, and she repeated very firmly: "You can walk one step, can't you? That is all you have to do—take one step at a time."
Arm in arm they walked back, step by step. They voiced aloud the truths of Christian Science which had sustained them both so many times. They rejoiced in man's indestructible perfection as God's image and likeness; they declared that his every action is directed and sustained by Mind's infinite intelligence; therefore he is never dependent for progress on any material support, nor can he ever be the victim of mischance.
They remembered Mrs. Eddy's statement, "Every step of progress is a step more spiritual" (The People's Idea of God, p. 1) and gladly accepted the experience as an opportunity to prove the truth of this statement at the present time. At first they made slow progress, but as the spiritual steps unfolded in thought, the pain lessened and walking became almost normal. By the time they had reached her car, the writer was able to drive it home. There was no further pain, and within a matter of days a new nail had grown.
The lesson of that day has been a constant reminder down the years when human will has obtruded its headlong plans; when important decisions have been in prospect; in times of fatigue or discouragement. Mortal belief is so apt to stride into a nonexistent future as if it wore seven-league boots. It views ordinary duties as a heavy accumulation, as a burden beyond one's capacity. It says, "But I can't possibly get through all this today or this week or this month or even this year."
The voice of wisdom replies, as it did on that other day: "You can do one thing at a time, can't you? That is all you have to do or can do."
Then, when the harmonious unfoldment of omnipresent Mind is acknowledged, the false burdens drop away, and what seemed impossible is easily accomplished in restful moments. Or the tempter may suggest that some past circumstance is impeding the steps of today. In reality the only step that can be taken is the present one, and no dismal past or problematical future can obstruct it.
Since Mind alone outlines and directs the unfoldment of each of its ideas in the eternal now, we need never, in truth, take more than one step or live more than one moment at a time. Man reflects the infinite as never-ceasing unfoldment; he does not originate even the very next thought; he remains forever the immediate expression of Love's impulsion.
Are we to believe that a so-called mortal mind has the power to interpose its spurious suggestions and rob us of the living moment; to substitute its fears, its will, its resentments for that present step of spiritual progress? No belief can obliterate the fact that now is the only moment of which we can be conscious, the only reality with which we can deal effectively.
Paul tells us succinctly how to lay hold practically of the reliable now. He says it is by "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor.10:5). That day on the beach could have turned out very differently if the "imaginations" had been heeded that insisted it was impossible to take the necessary forward step because of an untoward circumstance in the immediate past. Instead, the suggestion was proved completely false, and each step was made an exercise in "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," in proving the truth of man's dominion now.
Someone may say, "That is too difficult a discipline for me; my understanding is insufficient." But is it? Does the understanding originate in what calls itself a mortal, or does it forever inhere in the divine Mind, God? Each of His ideas partakes of His omnipotence by its very nature of being the reflection of the infinite.
Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). He accepted no false responsibility for a separate personal mind, good or evil, clever or stupid, sick or well. He acknowledged only God as Mind—responsible for every action of His perfect idea, man, every moment. Jesus rested confidently in the eternal now, content to let Love indicate each step of spiritual progress, or he could never have said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:30), when to human sense it appeared so formidable.
Even one newly taking steps of spiritual progress in Christian Science may quickly gain enough understanding of divine Principle to obey Paul's injunction. He can begin early the exercise of bringing the living moment into line with his present understanding of Truth. He can drop the burdens of past and future in the restful confidence of the Christ and find his own burden light. He can cease scanning the piled up beliefs of materiality, believing they have reality and can make his onward steps painful and laborious. He can make each step one of more complete trust in good. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 444), "Step by step will those who trust Him find that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.'"
To be sure, taking these steps requires discipline, as the word "disciple" implies, and we all call ourselves the Master's disciples. His yoke, as he said, is easy provided just one step at a time is considered, one moment of self-abnegation offered to divine Principle, Love, one thought yielded to Christ's discipline. Our Leader indicates how gentle this discipline of moments can be. She says, "The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15). This discipline of Love shuts out the harsh discords of material sense and makes the present joyous, whatever the human circumstances.
In Christian Science we acknowledge God as All—omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience. Can we better worship Him than by letting each thought rest in Him, each moment be consecrated to expressing Him, each step be trusted to His loving care? We shall then experience practically the confidence expressed in a line of Hymn No. 169 in the Christian Science Hymnal, "One step enough for me."
