“Mother was trying to give you her highest teaching”

[JPalmer]

In reading Watching Point 269 from the Daily Watch this week, the following from pages 252-253 of the Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “blue book”), came to me:

One day Mrs. Eddy touched Adam Dickey’s hand with her finger and asked him, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘Matter.’ She said, ‘It is not; it is Spirit.’ Then another time she looked at him and said, ‘You are Spirit.’ And he said, ‘No, Mother, I am spiritual.’ She said in a very emphatic way, ‘You are Spirit.’ And he said, ‘Mother, I do not see that.’ She said, ‘You are Spirit,’ the third time, but he said he could not see it. When he was going to his room he met Mrs. Sargent and told her of the conversation with Mrs. Eddy and she said, ‘Oh, Mr. Dickey, why did you say that! Mother was trying to give you her highest teaching.’

[JPalmer]

In contemplating this Watching Point and quote above more this week, I was thinking of everything I didn’t understand when I first arrived in Plainfield. (Practically everything!) But my practitioner let me know these things would become clear over time, and clearer still as we progress. And true to that, I am sure everyone can relate to reading or hearing something from a lesson or one of our books and eventually it finally clicks. To have these ideas open up and become something we rely on in our daily lives is such a great blessing.

Because of this, I’ve begun to see that “demanding the blessing” actually comes in two parts: The first is to know that all situations and interactions have good to impart and to pray and work and strive and be patient until it is revealed. The second — which I am not sure I was completely doing for a long while — is to not just be content with the uncovering of that good, but to actively work to accept that blessing within myself so that it becomes yet another tool I have proved and can use as needed.

In thinking of Mrs. Eddy teaching Adam Dickey, she uncovered this great good for him, yet it was if he demanded not to be blessed. How much better if he had said “I will quiet my doubt and trust your spiritual understanding over my own, and pray I understand this with time.”

I feel this is an important thing for me to be on the lookout for in myself. Just because and I am here in Plainfield — even as Adam Dickey worked for Mrs. Eddy at Chestnut Hill — it does not mean the entirety of my consciousness is good soil, or that I don’t have more to learn. There may (will?) be patches of thorns or rocky ground which I will need to contend with, so more advanced teachings of Christian Science will be able to take root in me and flourish.

This reminds me of Mary Baker Eddy’s words from page 118 from Miscellaneous Writing:

Be of good cheer; the warfare with one’s self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you, — and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory.

I am so grateful for all that I am learning here each week. Thank you!

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