The Monitor's daily religious article; Out of the backwater

If it happened only to autumn leaves, we'd never think twice about it. But sometimes it happens to a human being. When a leaf in a stream gets out of the flow of things and caught in some stagnant side pool, some endlessly circling eddy, some backwater, it may be stuck there. But what about a man? There are side pools of poverty, eddies of pain, backwaters of loneliness, into which a man or a woman may drift. And when one is out of the right and natural flow of things, it can seem almost impossible to get moving again.

God, divine Love, is pouring forth endless good to humanity. There is a way for us to move with that flow -- a way to travel along to the place where we'll be able to give something wonderful.

There's a passage in the Bible worth noting. It records God as saying of Jerusalem, "I will send peace flowing over her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a stream in flood." n1 Spiritual qualities -- peace and abundance are the two mentioned, but all the rest could be added -- spiritual qualities don't have a stagnant existence. They are flowing. Blessing. Healing. As we identify ourselves with these qualities, we'll find ourselves flowing to the places we can be of service. We'll be blessing those we come in contact with. There will be a healing impulse to our very lives. We will find ourselves out of the backwater.

n1 Isaiah 66:12 (The New English Biblem ); King James Version reads, "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream"

What does it take to identify ourselves in this way? Prayer. It can start as a prayer of acknowledgment. That is, we can start by acknowledging God's nature to be Love and Truth. And the spiritual qualities of God to be peace and abundance and warmth and so on. The significant and lasting aspects of you or me or anybody are these spiritual qualities that we express. Acknowledge this.

If you are poor, acknowledge -- spiritually perceive -- that you express Love's abundance. Keep at it if things don't change at once. The spiritual qualities don't stagnate. So, mentally, prayerfully tying yourself to them will eventually draw you out of that side pool of poverty. If you are in pain, acknowleding the presence of peace and harmony and the illusory nature of pain (if God didn't cause it, can it be real?) will help free you from that whirlpool of discord and move you into the currents where harmony and peace are always running. If your life has been beached on the shore of despaire, acknowledge that you already express qualities like warmth and goodnes. Let this truth dawnm on your consciousness. It will lift the level of goodness and warmth in your thought, as a fresh rain lifts the level of a pond. And you will be able to launch your life anew.

There is a term used in Christian Science for things like poverty, pain, despair, things that don't come from God, Truth. The term is "error." Look what Mary Baker eddy n2 says of it: "Error has no power but to destroy itself. It cannot harm you;m it cannot stop the eternal currents of Truth." n3 So the currents of Truth are unstoppable. Acknowledge this, and that you express the spiritual qualities of Truth, God. It'll help keep you moving with these currents. Or, if you're stalled, it'll help you get moving again.

n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science

n3 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 157

Of course, there's more we can do -- in addition to acknowledging spiritual truths -- to get things headed again in the right direction. But it's good to remembe we're able to do what we do only because of what God is and what He does. When we've got that straight, our progress will be more natural. Look at one more thing Mrs. Eddy says: "All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power." n4

n4 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 515.

The backwater is no place for you, any more than it's a place for God or his qualities. Things are on the move. The currents of Truth. The qualities of Truth. You -- the reflection of Truth. And not just moving aimlessly but moving in line with God, so moving with good. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you. Jeremiah 3:14