There's so much today that suggests "Take it easy ... give yourself a break ... do only what you have to." In contrast, it was stirring to visit a photographic exhibit entitled "I Dream A World," focusing on the accomplishments of seventy-five African-American women. None of these people's lives were easy.
Typical, for example, is Barbara Jordan, former member of the United States House of Representatives and currently a college teacher. Long-standing willingness to work to see rightful change shines in her life and her comments. "We have somehow got to sacrifice our lives as an example," she says, "to move young people along so that they will understand that it is a long, slow, tough road to really make it so that it lasts."
If one can't visit the exhibit, it's certainly worth borrowing from a local library the book with the same title. These are not simply exceptional people; they are people who have learned to thrive. Taken together, they are reminiscent of prophets who point the way.
If Christ Jesus had a forerunner like John the Baptist to prepare the people to receive the gospel, then men and women today need brave and committed modern prophets who can point others to the realization that genuine satisfaction is rooted in moral and spiritual accomplishment—not in inactivity or merely seeking greater ease.
Look deeply enough into any accomplishment that really benefits humanity, and we find that there is some kind of healing involved. At the deepest level, such healing is an overcoming of the egregious fear that man is alienated from his own native ability to reflect divine Life, Truth, and Love—God. Man is God's child, and this means far more than is generally thought of when we simply think of the fallible, imperfect, material, human nature. True goodness is not merely a private possession or achievement. God is infinite good, and all the goodness that a person can have and express is a reflection of God.
To embrace this spiritual selfhood is to realize that we must stop thinking of ourselves as mortals working up to something out of reach and begin to recognize that our true nature is Godlike and spiritual because made by God, who is Spirit.
We don't have to put off making the leap from sorry materialism and escapism to the spiritual-mindedness and Christian living that transform life and bring healing. We can begin right where we are now. I know a woman who was told during her pregnancy that a complication had developed that could be quite dangerous. The obstetrician had been present at a number of births of mothers who were Christian Scientists. His last remark was, "You better get to work."
Work for this mother involved deep, spiritual prayer, recognizing the perfect operation of God's law in man's life. That afternoon while "working," she turned to Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and came to this passage: "The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike." Science and Health, p. 200.
Our true job is healing work. In the fullest sense, this is healing of inaction, healing of broken resolve and tired hopes, healing of sickness and sin through the understanding that we are now God's idea.
This spiritual nature or identity is why dignity, strength, and true worth belong to us all. To know this truth is to be moved to think and act in God-directed ways and to feel safe in so working, knowing that God will show what we need and provide it. In the case of the expectant mother, the physical complication was healed through her prayer, as the next examination by the obstetrician confirmed. The birth a week or so later was normal.
Our own work, whether we're women or men, is not unlike a new birth. Work is required to grow into spiritually informed awareness of one's real nature as God's reflection. But it's labor that begins with the knowledge of what we already spiritually are, having all that's needed to succeed. This work is proving what's true; it's the work of yielding to what is God-created, good, and spiritual. Simultaneously we come to understand the spiritual reality of God's creation and are transformed. This kind of work makes fear of failure and self-distrust obsolete.
Our true job is healing work. In the fullest sense, this is healing of inaction, healing of broken resolve and tired hopes, healing of sickness and sin through the understanding that we are now God's idea, wholly worthy of divine Love's perfect care and provision. As we accept this as present reality, we will begin to develop the spiritual insight that knows and responds to God's direction. This brings wisdom; it is wisdom that initiates reform and great change in us and in society. For any person who has this vision—and it's within the reach of all of us—there's no limit to the opportunities for advancement. But it takes work.
