'It Only Takes One'

HAS anyone ever said that to you? It's a truism that we can all appreciate, especially after we sell that house, find that mate, or get that job. Yet until such desired changes are completed, such advice can sound somewhat hollow.

I must have heard that sentence twenty times after I put my condominium up for sale in a depressed real estate market. On my street and in the entire housing complex, many others were for sale. Some had lapsed into foreclosure. My next-door neighbor, a realtor, had tried to sell his condo for nearly a year. He spoke discouragingly to me about declining real estate sales and slim possibilities of selling.

Yet in spite of this gloomy outlook, I had made the decision to sell and relocate clear across the country. These actions were triggered by the change from a business career to retirement living. I even put a de-posit on a new house being built hundreds of miles away. The entire transition, however, hinged upon the sale of my condominium. Friends and well-wishers were supportive. But they invariably summarized their encouraging remarks with the same words, namely, "It only takes one, you know."

Now, as a Christian Scientist, I had not made these decisions lightly. I had looked to God in prayer for direction each step of the way. Speaking of prayer, the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (p. 1).

So, daily I spent time praying and studying the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings to spiritualize my thinking. For a time, this stir in my thinking seemed to be the only activity going on regarding the sale. After the initial flurry of open houses for realtors and the public, nothing on my street or in the complex was moving at all; no one even came to look at homes for sale. My realtor said flatly, "The market is dead."

One day, in what appeared as this stagnant sales environment, I walked to my mailbox. I met a neighbor there who inquired if I had much activity on my condo. When I admitted there wasn't much, she said, somewhat over her shoulder as she walked away, sorting her mail, "Well, it only takes one, you know."

There it was again. I found myself thinking, "If I hear that one more time . . . ." Then suddenly at my front gate, it dawned on me, "That's it! It only takes One, with a capital O."

The rest of the day I spent time studying references to One, oneness, and related words in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings in order to gain more insight into the concept of God as One and All, with man and the universe as the spiritual expression of this oneness.

The Bible reveals countless instances where

Jesus, in his expression of the Christ, Truth, demonstrated man's inseparability from the Father, the one divine Principle. Mrs. Eddy has written in Science and Health: "From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude come spiritual rules, laws, and their demonstration, which, like the great Giver, are 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;' for thus are the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea characterized in the epistle t o the Hebrews" (p. 112).

Gradually I began to grasp the fact that, in the truest sense, I wasn't involved in a situation where I was a seller, and out there somewhere was a buyer, and we were working at different or random purposes. I began to realize a oneness and allness in God's power and purpose to govern me and everyone involved in this unfolding plan. The laws of divine Principle were at work, revealing the order and perfection of God's creation. The property value, the timing, the selling, the buying--all were embraced by

that oneness, which, reflecting the infinite One, God, could only express harmony and completeness. All my anxiety ceased, and I felt perfectly at peace about the situation.

Three days later a man viewed my condo, and shortly thereafter he made a very acceptable offer. What's more, he purchased all the furnishings, making my cross-country move much easier. The timing of the move gave me two months to tour the country by automobile unemcumbered by household obligations, another longtime desire of mine. My new home was ready as promised, and the new furnishings perfectly suited it.

Selling and buying and moving were the outward signs of the happy resolution of this experience, but my gratitude is primarily for the realization gained of the spiritual truth that for every human problem, the solution takes only One, God. BIBLE VERSE

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun

and it seemed great unto me:

There was a little city,

and few men within it;

and there came a great king against it,

and besieged it,

and built great bulwarks against it:

now there was found in it

a poor wise man,

and he by his wisdom

delivered the city . . . .

Then said I,

Wisdom is better than strength.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-16

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