WHEN I WAS A CHILD, no tree was safe from me. I just loved the challenge to climb high. If it was not easy at first, I returned later to try again. I saw any problem with the climb as an interesting challenge—my focus was always on the final accomplishment. The fact that a tree was not yet marked as "mission accomplished" was not at all discouraging, but a future opportunity to be deeply enjoyed.
So it is, I've found, with all things that need some time and faithfulness while we grow spiritually in order to solve a problem.
But sometimes the challenges of today do not look like our tree experiences in childhood. Sometimes there are situations that seem so daunting that we might harbor doubts about whether there will be a healing or even a change for the better. We might think that with all the prayer that has gone into finding a solution, all the understanding that has been brought to bear on the situation, the outlook is still uncertain. These, however, are not thoughts coming to us from the divine Mind, but only an attitude of beleaguered mortal mind. Overcoming such fears is only another branch in the climb, and one we're sure to master and leave behind since "... progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfill" (Science and Health, p.233). With continued trust in the spiritual Science of good, we'll find ourselves in the arms of divine Love, where we've been all along, and rediscover our childlikeness and the understanding that we're eternally safe in His care.
