Don't shut that door
DON'T shut what door? The door to further development in and of your life. A friend's life had changed. The things that had been the focus of her activity for so many years were no longer there. What now? She found she was thinking, ``Why start out in a new direction so late in life?''
Her thinking impelled me to think further about this kind of challenge in the light of Bible teachings about God. We can learn from the Scriptures that God is infinite, unlimited, omni-active good and that man is His image, His expression. We can conclude, then, that our true being expresses the perpetual development, or unfoldment, of good. This is the law of God.
Since development is normal for man, the thought that we should automatically limit our activities at a certain point is an imposition that we should reject.
We need to learn more about God's law and man's purpose in the continuity of good. We tend to think of ourselves strictly in material terms -- as passing from birth through maturity to decline. This does appear to be the way things are. But does it represent what God has truly created? If God is good and immortal, then both man and goodness are immortal. This is the spiritual reality, which we can at least begin to prove. Christ Jesus proved man's immortality, his eternal freedom, by overcoming the limitations imposed by evil, by healing sin and disease and triumphing over death.
While the Master's work is unparalleled, he has pointed the way for us all, and we can at least take small steps in proving more of our God-given potential. As we gain the spiritual sense of life through Christ, we too will recognize man's inherent immortality and grandeur. Through our understanding and demonstration of the Science of Christ, we can progressively push back the limitations of material law that saddle men and women. We can expect our lives and the good in our lives to continue developing even after retirement. Why? Because the man of God's creating -- our genuine selfhood -- is spiritual and unlimited, the very expression of the divine nature.
Our activities and directions may well be different from what they were when we were twenty. This is right and natural for we are growing. We have no need to go over ground we have already explored. Divine law would have us attain new heights.
Deterioration is not the law of God. The Bible promises: ``Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.''1
Each one who plants his or her life in ``the house of the Lord,'' in the consciousness of divine Love, Truth, and Life, has the opportunity to prove God's law of perpetual good. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, founded this newspaper in her late eighties. She wrote: ``Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand.''2
As we follow the lead of Christ Jesus and let our lives be governed by God, Spirit, we will be planted in His house. God loves us and enables us to accomplish His will. Let's lean on Him, acknowledge His power, and follow wherever divine Love leads us.
Don't be afraid. Plant yourself in God, keep the door of new directions open, and go through it. You too will bear good fruit in later years as well as earlier.
1Psalms 92:13, 14. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 246. You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, meither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9