Quiet Enough to Pray
A MAN who'd lived for years in the city went to the mountains for a visit. For the first few nights he was restless and couldn't sleep very well. "Too quiet, he said. He'd had a "quieter rest in his familiar urban environment with the constant sound of traffic outside his window! We often associate quietness with the stillness of being in the wilderness or in a room alone--with having the activities of the world shut out. But, of course, quiet isn't the same as "no noise. A place with no noise can still be filled with fear or turmoil, and so not really be quiet at all. The quietness we yearn for is deeper. Those who've found this deeper peace realize that it is essentially spiritual and that it is within us. This spiritual stillness transcends whatever appears to be going o n
around us.
Prayer brings us spiritual calmness and enables us to keep it. In prayer, we can feel the strength and love of God's presence. Spoken words aren't necessary, however. In fact, our prayers don't have to be in words at all. What is necessary, then? To turn our hearts to God with honesty and trust. What is in our heart can never be hidden from divine Love.
In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells of prayer that is always answered. "In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God's allness, she writes. In the privacy of our heart we can always pray and listen, even when the world around us seems filled with the sounds of crying or fighting or anything else that would appear to block out God. Nothing can block out God, because God is All-i n
-all. No outward storm or inward mental barrage can prevent us from hearing God's voice, which the Bible called a "still small voice.
There will never be a circumstance when it's impossible to hear the still small voice of Truth. Science and Health says of this voice of divine Science: "The 'still, small voice' of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. . . . It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. Nothing could so press upon us that we would be unable to hear divine Truth's messages coming powerfully to us. Man is one with God, these messages tell us. Man is God's child, s p
iritual and good. God's all-power is in control, and there is no material or physical power to overthrow God or harm His creation.
Once when Christ Jesus was in a boat on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, a storm came up. The disciples thought they were in desperate trouble. Jesus had been peacefully sleeping as all this went on. Quite shaken with fear, the disciples woke him, asking him whether he cared that they all could perish. Jesus stood and addressed the storm with the words "Peace, be still. Then, the book of Mark tells us, "There was a great calm.
How could it be that the fearful event ended so quickly? The storm was calmed by God's power and love, which Jesus proved to be always truly governing God's creation. In the same way, Jesus healed people whose lives were wracked by pain and disease. He was proving that man, God's reflection, can't become diseased or out of control. Wherever Jesus went, he gave new hope and direction to people who thought they'd lost them forever.
Christian Science teaches that what is forever is God's goodness. In fact, this goodness is the kingdom of God, which is "at hand, as Jesus said. It is the spiritual reality that breaks through the dream of materialism and fear, bringing calmness, control, and healing.
The Christ, or Truth, that Jesus expressed so clearly is always present, right where we are. Christ quiets our hearts and gives us spiritual strength to know and feel with sureness what is true.
