Where words don't reach

WHILE the Bible attributes the creation of all things to the Word of God,1 the glory of all creation can't be adequately communicated in the form of words. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ``Human language can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what exists.'' Yet in the same paragraph she says, ``Unfathomable Mind is expressed.''2 It's an amazing thing to contemplate that while unfathomable Mind, God, is expressed, only an infinitesimal part of it can be expressed in human language. What magnificence must remain unspoken!

How comforting it is to realize that wherever one may be, God's love is expressed in that place and can be felt through prayer, even when not a word is uttered. This fact is especially meaningful in situations where a person seems unreachable by words alone. Perhaps a deep hurt has caused one to withdraw into some inward place of hiding, to resist being comforted, roused, or reformed by the well-meaning efforts of another. At such times it is helpful to remember these verses from a familiar psalm: ``Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shallI flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.''3

Not only is it geographically impossible to stray beyond the reach of God and His love; it is also mentally impossible to retreat into some secret chamber of subconscious isolation where infinite Mind can be shut out.

Even when ears seem stopped and words fall flat, man's true consciousness, as the very expression of the one Mind, can never really be cut off, never obstructed. The tender healing presenceof the Christ dissolves mental darkness through prayer that discerns something of God's infinite might and man's actual, spiritual nature as His image.

In the inner recesses of being where feelings remain unexposed to speech, Mind is present and able to reach beyond the hollow echo of rejected words and draw forth a response. In places of fear and in times of stunned or stubborn silence, the recognition of divine Love's voiceless presence brings a comfort that can only be hinted at in the retelling.

From the Bible we learn that God works very effectively in small, dark, quiet places, whether the place is the belly of a fish and the man's name is Jonah, or it's a prison cell or a tomb. What looks at first to be a place of lonely exile can become a refuge of rejoicing as the powerful effect of God's ever-presence dawns on the heart yearning for a larger vision of life than words can express. A hymn puts it this way: The heart's own longing lifts it high

Where words can never reach, Though human lips may never form

That glory into speech.4

So if we ever find words failing to meet the need of some suffering heart (either our own or another's), it might be a good idea to pause and consider this Scriptural advice: ``Be still, and know that I am God.''5 In the hushed awareness of Love's all-pervading presence we may find even the most painful silence being transformed into speechless glory. The quiet cherishing of God's immediate and unfailing love for each of His children can bring a healing touch where words alone might never reach.

1See John 1:1-3. 2Science and Healthwith Key to the Scriptures, p. 520. 3Psalms139:7-10. 4Christian Science Hymnal,No. 194. 5Psalms 46:10. You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. I John 1:5