How to `run and not be weary'

I HAD the most wonderful vacation last night! No, I didn't have a dream about a trip to a warm and beautiful island. (I live in the ``snow belt.'') I didn't go anywhere in a physical way. In fact, last night was the culmination of an extremely busy and demanding week--and there were thirty people at my home for supper. But right in the middle of the hardest part of the evening (the cleanup), I found myself as refreshed and energetic as if I had just returned from a two-week vacation. Here's how it happened: As I was standing at the sink, washing out one of a seemingly endless stream of pots, I felt exhausted. Every part of my body ached, and I was regretting having taken on yet another job I could have avoided. After all, hadn't I put in a full week at work and carried out my family and church responsibilities? Wasn't that enough? Then it dawned on me that I could pray. Praying, as I've learned in Christian Science, is not equivalent to putting a band-aid on a problem. Rather, it involves turning to God for a truer sense of ourselves and our situation. And as Christ Jesus taught, we will receive what we need when we come to God humbly and trustingly. What I needed wasn't really a new set of feet or a new back but a more spiritualized view of myself and my activity. And as I turned to my Father with that as the goal, it became instantly clear to me that as His loved offspring (and this is the true selfhood of us all), I was only able to do His work, to express His goodness, which is never wearisome or depleting. We can learn to identify ourselves and everything we do more from this spiritual viewpoint. Then we can experience a greater measure of freedom. As I reasoned from this practical basis, the weary, painful sense dropped away as simply as taking off an apron. The work was still there to be done, but by relinquishing the belief that I was a burdened mortal, I was immediately released from suffering. As I finished cleaning up, my heart was singing with gratitude for God's goodness. Whether our work is digging ditches or changing diapers; whether we're male or female, young or old; whether we are perceived as having a strong or a weak constitution--how we think about ourselves and our work determines our experience. In the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, observes: ``You do not say a wheel is fatigued; and yet the body is as material as the wheel. If it were not for what the human mind says of the body, the body, like the inanimate wheel, would never be weary. The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in un consciousness.'' 1 The proofs we have of the power of God, Truth, may seem miraculous or startling. But they are actually the evidence of our choice to accept the reality of our true, spiritual, Godlike nature. As the children of God, we mirror our Father and inherit only good. The Apostle Paul called us ``heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.'' 2 Every day offers opportunities to enjoy the fruits of this inheritance, which can't be taxed, divided, or stolen from us. We can turn to God anytime, in honest humility, to refresh our lives. This doesn't mean we won't ever take a day off or leave home for a holiday trip. But we will be truly rejuvenated in direct proportion to our acceptance of the spiritual facts of our identity. As we refuse to concede to the belief that limitations of time, space, and physicality are more powerful than divine Truth, wonderful changes for the better will appear. Resting in the pure consciousness of God's benign government, we are free to enjoy even the most mundane tasks and to maintain vigor in the hardest ones. ``They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.'' 3 If, then, you're feeling burdened, take a few moments to ponder His strength, His power, and your God-given ability to reflect these attributes. It can make a tremendous difference. 1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 218. 2 Romans 8:17. 3 Isaiah 40:31.