When things were the darkest and the continuity of the Union seemed to be in the balance, Abraham Lincoln possessed unfailing courage and patience. His secret was indeed simple. A newspaper reports him as saying: "I have often wished that I was a more devout man than I am. Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance in God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right."
Can any of us carry the burdens and meet the challenges of each day with our own strength alone? Do not all of us really need help from God? God knows our need. He imparts the help. And Christian Science enables us to know God, to turn to Him as a loving Father, and to rely on His unfailing directions.
Our Master, Christ Jesus, recognized his closeness to God, listened for His guidance, and unfailingly worked in unison with Him to solve every problem. He said to his followers, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). Our Master did not teach his disciples to try to dominate. He taught them to pray. And from the Bible we learn that as they lifted their thought to God, they became strong! From our Master's time until today, true Christians have lifted their faith to God through prayer. The Science of Christianity is the Science which lifts faith to spiritual understanding and thereby utilizes the Christly power of prayer.
Without faith in God, we are bereft of that which makes life great and effective. The Bible states, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebr. 11:1). Here we have it. With the substance of true faith enlightening our inner thoughts, we wisely let the evidence appear in outward experience.
A New England fisherman said, "The boatman reaches the landing, partly by pulling, partly by letting go." Also those skilled in the use of bow and arrow know that the archer strikes the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go.
Have we learned the art of letting go? Mortals often push and pull and too often forget to take advantage of the natural forces of Spirit, of the growth and fruitage which comes through trusting God. We are prone to take over that which is God's prerogative. Too often we fret and torment ourselves over the failure of our plans to root and sprout. Sometimes we must let go and let God take over.
True achievement does not come by human effort alone. It comes when our human powers are enlarged by the divine theology which Christian Science reveals. Mary Baker Eddy's answer to the question, "Does the theology of Christian Science aid its healing?" includes these statements (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 58): "Without its theology there is no mental science, no order that proceeds from God. All Science is divine, not human, in origin and demonstration. If God does not govern the action of man, it is inharmonious: if He does govern it, the action is Science. Take away the theology of mental healing and you take away its science, leaving it a human 'mind-cure,' nothing more nor less,—even one human mind governing another."
Truth, a synonym for God, the divine Mind, separates completely and forever this Science from all the beguiling claims of mortal mind and matter. Faith in God and in the energy and power of Truth enables us to adjust our plans to God's master plan of healing and abundance for all mankind. Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 111), "Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propagates: the tares cannot hinder it."
Truth demands that we must take all our necessary human footsteps before leaving the field to God. A farmer furrows, cultivates, and plants the field, then leaves the seed's growth to the sun and rain. Likewise, we cultivate our hopes and plant our faith in God, knowing as we do in Science that Truth is supreme and that the evidence must correspond to this fact. In the spiritual cultivation of the art of letting go there are several footsteps of which we can remind ourselves.
First, we can face the problem. We can examine and evaluate the facts; we can set them in order. It has been said that a problem clearly set forth is two thirds solved.
Secondly, we can, through Truth, remove the mask which invariably hides the solution of the problem. The mask—and it is important to remind ourselves of this—may claim to hinder our capacity to solve the problem as well as hide the key to its solution. With the effacement of error by spiritual means, the problem will be recognized as an aggressive belief of the carnal mind which our understanding of Truth annihilates.
Thirdly, we can, through this understanding, replace the antagonistic belief with the true idea as it exists in divine Mind. The lifting of consciousness from mortal belief to spiritual truth imbues one's thought with divine Mind's healing power. Christian Science frees thought from a binding concept of oneself as a mortal whose capacity is limited to a materialistic mentality and gives one the true view of man as the expression and image of divine Mind, spiritually impelled by this Mind's unfailing purpose.
Fourthly, we can trust God for the outcome. Through Christian Science we can fearlessly let go of human limitations, and we can prayerfully rely on God's willingness and ability to help. In this way our faith becomes enlarged by the understanding which Science confers. Some things are beyond the control of human understanding. Trust God. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Prov. 3:5, 6).
A group standing by the Panama Canal watched a great ocean liner slowly and majestically make its way through the narrow channel. It came to a stop, and finally motionless it waited as the huge gates closed and the inflowing waters lifted it inch by inch to the level of the next lock. Then the upper gates swung wide leaving the vessel free to go forward on its planned course.
Each one of us can recall the many, many times God has directed our lives through the locks of mortal existence. We have been forced to lessen our speed. We seemed closed in by narrow circumstances. Then all seemed to come to a halt. It is at this point that Christian Science teaches us to turn from the human level of mortal planning and through prayer to open our thoughts to the more effective ways of divine consciousness. Love lifts us with power unseen by physical sense to a higher spiritual level of understanding. From this upward vantage point our distant goals become clearer, our attainment nearer, and we chart our course afresh under the impulsion of God's unfailing power. There is true value and fruitful evidence to be found in letting go.
"There is ... a time to plant, and a time to pluck up; ... a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away" (Eccl. 3:1–6). In Science and Health we are told by our Leader (p. 454): "Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept. Patience must 'have her perfect work.'"
