My attention was arrested recently by this statement by Mary Baker Eddy, especially by the phrase, “…should be more zealous to do good…”

“Because this age is cursed with one rancorous and lurking foe to human weal, those who are the truest friends of mankind, and conscientious in their desire to do right and to live pure and Christian lives, should be more zealous to do good, more watchful and vigilant. Then they will be proportionately successful and bring out glorious results.”
Miscellany, p. 213.

Back in my early days of establishing a Christian Science practice, calls from patients were few and infrequent. Not being one to sit around and do nothing, I prayed for productive ways to keep myself employed.

“How could I still be helping the world and stay true to my metaphysical approach to healing?” was the question I asked. And answers came. One in particular, “Write!” And write I did.

I hated to write. I was a terrible writer. It was mental/emotional torture to get 500 words onto a page that made coherent sense. The poorest grade I ever got in school was in writing. But it was a way I could contribute to world good and keep myself productively engaged. So, I learned how to write.

I wrote for the religious column in The Christian Science Monitor. They were all anonymous contributions, but eventually I had dozens of articles printed.

I learned from experience that every time I had another piece printed, even though no one in the whole world except for the Monitor editors knew I wrote the pieces, my practice would grow. The correlation was undeniable.

It got to the point that whenever I felt a lull in my life or practice, I’d say, “It’s time to write. Demonstrate your worth.” I’d write another piece. Practice activity would pick up as soon as I put it in the mail. It didn’t matter if the piece was accepted or rejected. It was my right motives that blessed me, I gradually learned.

It took a few years to figure it all out, but I decided a rule for success in the Christian Science practice is “The more spiritual good you do for others, the more your practice grows.” And there are no limits on the good one can do.

And that is exactly what Eddy said above. Those who are “zealous to do good,” are “proportionately successful and bring out glorious results.”

You can’t be wimpy about it. You can’t sit around and complain, grouse, mumble resentments or wait to get motivated at a future date. You have to rouse thought to action, get effort kicked into high gear, and stir public thought to higher places. There are many ways to do it…fervent prayer, treatment, writing, sharing, teaching Sunday school, expanding Reading Room activity, are a few ways.

Not only is this a rule for the practice, it’s a rule for church growth too, and for any worthy organization’s growth, for that matter.

The world needs help—spiritual help more than any other kind. Those who provide it will stomp out the “rancorous and lurking foe to human weal,” strengthen their own position in the process, and bring out glorious results.

But to succeed, we need to “be more zealous to do good,” as Eddy mentioned.

I agree. She was right on. No surprise…LOL

P.S. I don’t write today because I don’t have calls coming into the practice. Quite to the contrary! I love to write now. I can’t imagine not doing it. And it comes so much easier than it did in the early days. It’s part of my ministry, and just as needed by me as for those who benefit from what I write. What we give always comes back to us in just the right way.