Much is written and said today concerning patterns—patterns of life, patterns of behavior, patterns of success or of failure, patterns of health or of disease. And belief in such patterns has become at times a dominating factor in the experience of almost everyone. "Everything he touches turns to gold," or, conversely: "He never does anything right. He has always been a failure; it's a family pattern," and so forth. No stone is left unturned to convince one that what he did as an infant, or what his progenitors did or did not do, is for him a controlling pattern of life.
There is only one real pattern of life. The Scriptures tell us of it. It is the God-directed way of living, "the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" (Hebr. 8:5). The Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the young Christians, Timothy and Titus, spoke eloquently of this pattern. He said to Timothy that it was the pattern of everlasting life which Christ Jesus taught and lived. (See I Tim. 1:16.) He admonished Titus and the other Christians abiding in faraway Crete to be obedient followers of the Saviour, for by this obedience they would be blessed; and Paul added (Tit. 2:7), "In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works."
Christian Science comes with a lifegiving message to all mankind. It makes practical, livable, and deeply satisfying the pattern of life that Jesus lived and preached. In a Bible Lesson included in "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy states (pp. 196, 197), "The Scriptures require more than a simple admission and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons into our lives that these truths become the motive-power of every act."
Further on in the lesson, speaking of her text and what it means to believe, she states, "It means more than an opinion entertained concerning Jesus as a man, as the Son of God, or as God." She adds later in the paragraph, "But it does mean so to understand the beauty of holiness, the character and divinity which Jesus presented in his power to heal and to save, that it will compel us to pattern after both; in other words, to 'let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'(Phil. ii. 5.)"
The pattern Christ Jesus presented and lived. How simple this pattern is! How good it is! How completely adequate for humanity's needs! And here and now it can be accepted by us as the pattern of our lives; it can become for us the guiding light of health and happiness and peace.
In the Bible is the beautiful story of Mary Magdalene. Before her healing by Christ Jesus her pattern of life must have been one of disappointment, frustration, and pain. But straightway after her healing she became a humble, devoted disciple of the Saviour's. She had turned her gaze in the right direction. She had sought and found the truth, and doubt and pain were no longer the pattern of her life.
How complete the change was! No longing or looking back to a past pattern, but a joyful acceptance and living of the new. For in the Gospels we read of her continuous, loving discipleship. It was she who on the resurrection morn was the first to see the risen Saviour and to carry the message of the resurrection to his grieving disciples. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week," Mark writes in his Gospel (16:9), "he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept."
Such discipleship is possible for us today. No longer need we be slaves to patterns of behavior filled with pain and failure. No longer need we be slaves to a past or a future, to heredity or environment, to frustration or fate. The pattern has been showed us and, like the Magdalen, we can follow it.
"We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought," Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 248). How immeasurably important our thoughts are! Our very closest companions, they are. But we can choose our companions. We have the God-given wisdom and integrity with which to do so, the love and the courage to accept the good and eschew the evil.
In the Bible Lesson referred to above, Mrs. Eddy quotes the Apostle Paul's words, "'Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'" This we can so humbly, so gratefully do, for man is not governed by the mortal, or carnal, mind but by divine Mind. Understanding this fact, men need not be the tool or the target of the carnal mind. They need not be afraid of it, intimidated by it, or attracted to it. Neither should they be asleep or apathetic to its boasts of place and power. Man is ever awake to the supreme authority of divine Mind, divine Love. His heritage is "the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21), the sons and daughters of God, and this is true now.
Man, made in the image and likeness of God, reflects God in all his ways. No pattern of evil governs him. No such pattern in reality can govern anyone. "Life, Truth and Love the pattern make," a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal reads (No. 51), and, "Love's work and Love must fit," it assures us. This is the loving Father's perfect pattern for His children.
A friend of mine told me recently of how the pattern of his life had been changed when he became a student of Christian Science. Before this he had spent much of his time getting into trouble or trying to get out of it. He had felt himself to be the object of criticism and misunderstanding, a target for the manifold "he says" and "she says" and "they say" of human opinion. "But Christian Science is like riding in an armored car," he declared. "You aren't afraid of being shot at anymore. I'm so grateful for it."
We can all ride in that armored car of God's love, the impregnable, bombproof, evilproof, all-embracing safety of God's presence and care. No arrows of criticism or condemnation, of fear or of pain, can possibly reach us there. Whatever may have been evil in a previous experience is expunged through the healing ministry of divine Love. It is a wonderful life that Love has charted for us, a life full of right activity, of health, and of happiness. There may be testing times in it, but each such test is an opportunity to prove the rightness of the pattern and to bear testimony to the omnipotence of God.
A great moral and spiritual awakening is needed throughout the world. The necessity of finding and relying upon a power greater than that which materiality offers is causing mankind to evaluate the mores and patterns both of the past and of the present. What a challenge it is to be a part of this awakening! And insofar as we follow the pattern that Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, so vividly preached and lived, we can be a part of it.
Our Leader tells us in Science and Health (p. 174): "Truth is revealed. It needs only to be practised." Accepting and practicing the pattern of Truth, we can go forward prepared and ready to bless and be blessed. The perfect "pattern shewed to thee in the mount" is ours to have and to hold forever. And in it lies the healing of the nations.
