Limited Horizons Dispelled

                                        John Robert Howell



        I've been thinking of spiritual progress in the upcoming New Year and hope the following will be of help to some student of Christian Science:

        A frisky horse in a corral may dash exuberantly to and fro, gallop about wildly, and kick up its heels.  By the end of the day it may have covered several miles, but it still ends the day where it started.  Dedicated Christian Scientists who are working daily for a greater understanding of God and His laws and an ability to demonstrate it better and more decisively may well do so with the zest and vigor of the horse in the corral and yet find themselves with little more insight and inspiration at day's end than they had at the day's beginning.

        One reason for this could be that one is mentally gamboling about too willy nilly, like the horse, without a methodical, focussed approach to study.  Another reason could be that one has unconsciously built over many years a sturdy, comforting, spiritual corral for himself, outside of which is thinking never ventures.  It may be that the mental corral is the evidence of a need for more childlike trust in God, more obedience to the duties and obligations one accepts as a Christian Scientist, or for more Christlike love for God and man.  But whatever the mesmeric error or errors, unrelenting working, watching, and praying will remove the fence around the corral and open the way out of stagnation and darkness into fresh pastures of light.

        In the words of Mary Baker Eddy, we can look forward to "new views of divine goodness and love" in 2014.