Each noon I used to visit a Christian Science Reading Room in the business section of a large city. I recall that at one time demolition of old buildings across the street had been undertaken to make way for a high-rise office building. Once the old structures had been reduced to rubble and carted away, I naively expected to see the skeleton of a new skyscraper start to rise almost at once. Not so. My daily visits to the Reading Room were to continue for another year before the upward reach of the new structure became evident. For this entire period excavation in solid rock had to be completed and a firm foundation laid before the new building could begin to climb skyward.
I then realized that I had been witnessing the essential preparatory work that lies behind any worthwhile endeavor. Before yielding fruit, a tree must send forth a root system to support and strengthen the visible growth. Unwanted shoots must be pruned and nourishment provided that the fruit may be bountiful and pleasing to the eye and palate.
The examples of the skyscraper founded on bedrock and the tree with its supporting root structure offer pertinent parallels to what is required when one enters upon the public practice of Christian Science. Consecrated study of the Bible and deep pondering of the illumination thrown on its inspired passages by the writings of Mrs. Eddy constitute essential groundwork for the high mission of Christianly scientific healing.
