“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise…at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Prize, price, praise, appraisal are all derived from the same etymological root denoting value, honor, worth, excellence, worthiness. “Praise is the just price.”
The mining, processing, and refining of gold all have to do with separating gold from all the different kinds of impurities which are bonded to it in its natural, unrefined state. The gold-refining process is necessarily in stages, each step designed to remove a particular impurity. Only after subjecting the gold to intervals of intense heat, cooling, along with washings of various kinds (not only with water, but with caustic chemicals) is this step-bystep purification process complete.
Metaphysically speaking, now is the time I must work to allow this incremental process of refining the spiritual gold in my own life, until I am no longer expressing matter in any way, but expressing Spirit in every detail of my life. As Mrs. Eddy says in the final entry of this week’s lesson: “It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, — certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God.” Mrs. Eddy also admonished that this transformation is best accomplished in the here and now, not the hereafter, quoting the Apostle Paul: “Now is the accepted time.” Thus, I am required to embrace each step of this purification process as I take it — in this now moment: to “count it all joy” (James 1:2, I Peter 4:12) and no step may be skipped or abridged in any way.