A better answer than suicide
FOR a long time, even as a teen-ager, I felt hopeless and unhappy, and I lost all incentive to go forward. There seemed to be no light anywhere! But I knew that somehow, somewhere, beyond what the eye could see or the hand could touch, there had to be a basic creative power or Principle--God. And it seemed to me that so great and immeasurable a power would have to be intelligent, orderly, beneficent, not blundering or destructive.
This line of reasoning gradually led me to understand the fact in Christian Science that the misery and injustice we see everywhere are not of God's creating but represent the pageant of mesmeric materialistic thinking, projecting its own troubled concepts. I saw that if I would base my thinking and living not on this mortal sense of things but on the truths of spiritual harmony, I would find peace right here. My purpose in life would clarify. My eyes would be opened to see the wonders all around me: the signs of nobility and kindness that suddenly appear where least expected, the beauty of children, of trees, flowers, and grass--all of it pointing to a God of love.
Such has proved to be my experience, and it can prove true for anyone.
In the deepest sense, no one is alone. We all have the same lessons to learn, though in differing ways. It's a brotherhood with one Father-Mother, who loves the man of His creating.
``O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.''1 This was a divine message that came to Daniel. And Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, tells us, ``Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee.''2 In another place she says, ``Love is the liberator.''3
The power of God, Love, illumining our thought through prayer, can lift us to see ourselves and others more as He is knowing us--not as discordant mortals but as His beloved offspring, His sons and daughters, perfect and whole. Then our divine birthright will be more fully realized in a sense of joy, in true companionship and fufillment.
Acknowledging divine Love as our creator and governor can give us the humility and strength to cast off evil ways as well as the grief and guilt these foster. It is by our feeling the power of divine Love and by learning to love as Jesus did--unselfishly, spiritually--that healing takes place. It is by discerning man in God's image, as he is in truth, pure and satisfied.
We can use the dark intervals of temptation as opportunities to drop selfish preoccupation with our own so-called pleasures. These periods can be a time for rolling up our sleeves, so to speak, and dedicating ourselves more wholeheartedly to serving God, good, as the All of reality, our Father-Mother, who loves us!
Truly, this is the way to find happiness. It is the way to work out our salvation. In the final analysis, there is no other course to follow.
1Daniel 10:19. 2The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 149-150. 3Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 225. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; they mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Psalms 94:17-19
