Yielding to the divine

The letter had been a big disappointment. It included no reference to the promised increase in academic rank and salary for the two years of further graduate study. Filled with self-pity, self-justification, and resentment, the student poured these out in a letter of reply. Then he tore it up. He knew this was not the way to resolve his problem.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m Mary Baker Eddy n1 writes, "Self-love is more opaque than a solid body. In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, -- self-will, self-justification, and self- love, -- which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death." n2

n1 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n2 Science and Health,m p. 242;

Realizing that the opaqueness of self- love would hide the solution to his problem, the student prayed to silence the inner turbulence. The Psalmist wrote , "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." n3

n3 Psalms 46:10;

Problems in human relationships are not resolved by personal exaltation but through the exaltation of God. A prideful sense of human ego must give way to a humble realization that God is the great I AM, the one and only divine Ego. Man is created to fulfill God's eternal purpose. God cannot be used to satisfy mankind's narrow purposes, to fulfill personal ambitions, or to gratify human will.

God, the governor as well as the creator of His own spiritual universe, is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He governs through invariable divine law. God, as divine Truth, is always just and merciful.As infinite Mind, He is always wise, intelligent, and understanding. As divine Love, He is always merciful. Because He is divine Principle, His will and authority are supreme.

It is safe to trust the one Supreme Being with the government of our affairs. In reality we are individually maintained in His orbit, on His divine mission. It is He who empowers, guides, protects, and rewards the career He unfolds for us. He is always in direct control of His creation.

Realizing something of the absolute truth of these ideas, the student recalled Christ Jesus' brief prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt." n4

n4 Mark 14:36;

The definition of "Gethsemane" found in Science and Healthm reads, "Patient woe; the human yielding to the divine; love meeting no response, but still remaining love. n5

n5 Science and Health,m p. 586.

In that definition the student found the solution to his problem. This solution was not in self-will, self-justification, or self-love, but in the unselfed expression of the divine Love that is God. Realizing this, the student found his peace. Could any person or circumstance inhibit his daily manifestation of unselfed love? Could rank or salary determine in any degree his ability to express intelligence and wisdom? Could place or personality prevent him from utilizing the increased knowledge and understanding he had gained? His opportunities and his rewards were in the hands of God, not of man.

Now he was ready to write a calm, reasoned letter of reply, fully confident that God's will would be made manifest. Returning to his employment some months later, he found an official response waiting for him. On the recommendation of the very persons who had appeared so indifferent to him, he was granted the full reward to which he had felt entitled.

But what if the first reply had been mailed?What misunderstandings and hard feelings might have resulted. What opportunities for further progress might have been withheld. There can be no loss, though, when self-will is silenced and self-justification stifled. No loss when the imnipotence of God is exalted and the human self subordinated. The yielding of the human to the divine assures rich rewards in the paths of peace and progress. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Be yet not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord , and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God. II Chronicles 30:8