I Am Satisfied
Afetr many years of dancing to the Rolling Stones' classic hit that says "I can't get no satisfaction," I finally realized how its chorus is a perfect theme for the way people often feel. They've adopted a mentality that tries and tries and tries - and tries again - but doesn't allow them satisfaction.
Christian Science describes God as Mind, the true source of all thought. One prominent Bible figure, St. Paul, used the term carnal mind to describe all that is self-oriented, unloving, boastful, vain, shallow, deceitful. Paul went on to call this limited and false mind "enmity against God" (Rom 8:7).
It is also the foe to achieving genuine satisfaction. It exists in a perpetual state of frustration because what it can't have it wants, what it does enjoy having it always wants more of, and what it thinks it wants most is destructive to health and happiness. This ungodly mind is not, however, the real mind of anyone. Why? Because we are each truly the offspring of the divine Mind, God. The Bible book of Genesis records that God creates all - that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (1:31). Everyone's true source is the one infinite, divine Mind, which is forever satisfied.
The divine nature was clearly expressed in the pure thought of Christ Jesus. His understanding of God resulted in powerful works of healing, as recorded in the Scriptures. Paul described one characteristic of such Christly consciousness as "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Phil. 4:7).
Spiritual peace is available to all. When we catch even a glimpse of it through humble yielding to God, and act on the good impulses that prayer promotes, we find richness and fulfillment beyond the merely selfish and personal. This true fulfillment is unlimited. It promises endless good.
Mary Baker Eddy's seminal book on spirituality and healing, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," explains that God is not only divine Mind but also Soul, the source of all true feeling. Elsewhere she stated: "Soul is the infinite source of bliss: only high and holy joy can satisfy immortal cravings" ("Miscellaneous Writings," Pg. 287).
To begin finding "high and holy joy" involves being more aware of what's in our thinking - and refusing to consent to the notion that fulfillment is either pending or past. Instead, we can acknowledge the unconditional satisfaction that belongs to us now as the expression of God. To admit to anything less is to let mortal thinking keep us in subjection to discontent and misery. Grasping the unqualified nature of spiritual satisfaction, we will find that God has given us good purpose, and that He steers us toward enduring contentment. The more consistently divine Mind guides our thoughts and actions, the more trustworthy will be our happiness.
For some years I've been gaining in the recognition that my happiness depends on being motivated by God, rather than being driven by the desire to achieve only self-satisfaction. To the degree that unselfish good has filled my thinking and impelled my actions, I've found happiness in unexpected ways.
For instance, while I was growing up, the idea of involvement with organized religion was anathema to me. However, as I followed an increasingly spiritual path, and became more attuned to leaning on God to show me what I needed to do, I felt the divine Mind prompting me to affiliate with a church as a next step of progress. Looking back over a decade, I'm amazed at how deeply satisfying an experience this has been. Besides the precious joy of finding new ways to help people in need, I've also formed many dear friendships, including meeting the special friend who is now my wife.
The satisfaction you seek may find expression in your life in ways you haven't anticipated, either. But it really belongs to you already, because you are a loved child of God, the Giver of all good.
Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and
peace in believing, that
ye may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13
