WE'VE HAD SO MUCH more activity in our Christian Science Reading Room lately—more people coming in, or calling on the phone to get information about us.
In regard to the Reading Room, I've been doing a lot of thinking about progress being a law—"the law of God," as Mary Baker Eddy wrote (Science and Health, p. 233). So it's right for a Reading Room to progress; to have more customers interested in exploring the products the Reading Room has to offer, to increase in sales, and for there to be more healing in the community and our individual lives as a result of reading the Christian Science Bible Lessons and all our products. I've also been thinking lately about this passage in Matthew: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (5:16). The light of Truth (a synonym for God) shines within each of us, whatever our faith, and enables us to do the healing works Jesus did. And this light can't be eliminated, any more than darkness can eliminate light. Nor can Truth be ignored, because it's irresistible. A Reading Room is a place for people to discover this.
I've also prayed a lot with the statement in Revelation, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it" (3:8). One day I realized that our Reading Room door doesn't swing in when you open it from the inside, it swings out. I thought, "Well, if people don't come in, our church members can go out. A lot of our members do that—they share the Bible, Science and Health, the Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, and The Christian Science Monitor—all of the products in our Reading Rooms—with those who are searching for spiritual answers to challenges they face.
