New every morning

The Scriptures declare: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

“New every morning”! To a child every morning is new; he greets the sunshine with joy, and goes into raptures over the birds, the butterflies, and the flowers. His pure consciousness sees good everywhere; and to him good is always new.

On page 591 of the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, defines “morning” as follows: “Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and progress.” Our study and understanding of Christian Science are closely associated with “revelation and progress.” In studying the Lesson-Sermons, we must take care to be alert, so that this study may not become mechanical. All that is read in the Bible and in our textbook comes to us as a revelation; but certain passages may in due course become so familiar to us that upon merely reading them we may assume that we have grasped all they contain. But “his compassions” are “new every morning.” However many years one has studied Christian Science, divine verities can never become stale. The growing understanding continually recognizes in them a new light, “new every morning.”

The first time the writer attended a Christian Science service, the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” and the spiritual interpretation given by our Leader, “And Love is reflected in love” (Science and Health, p. 17), made a great impression on her thought. Great was her joy when she for the first time opened the textbook and saw these words; and every time she heard them read from the desk her joy and gratitude increased. “And Love is reflected in love.” For some time her comprehension of the words was that one individual’s love is reflected in another individual’s love. Having no knowledge of the English language, she at first studied only the German translation of the textbook. Then she began to learn English and to read the textbook in both languages, comparing the original with the translation.

Suddenly, one morning her gaze rested upon the word “Love” in the above-quoted passage, and she saw that it is capitalized. Then she recalled what she had read on page iii in the Preface to the German translation of the textbook in regard to the capitalization in Science and Health of certain words which Mrs. Eddy uses to signify Deity, namely, that this special capitalization is indicated in the translation by heavy type for the initial letter. What a new and wonderful light illuminated the well-known words! It was not until then that they were recognized in their true and full significance. They were the means, “new every morning,” of helping the student to recognize God, divine Love, as the only source of reflected love.

True spiritual joy can never grow stale. It is as the morning dew causing flowers and grass to sparkle and glitter by the reflection of the sun’s rays.

If, filled with spiritual joy, we take up our books daily, and know that every sentence contains the answer to some question and the solution to some problem, we shall perceive with growing interest and wonder that inexhaustible treasures are waiting to be discovered and garnered. Then we shall experience what our Leader indicates on page 66 of Science and Health: “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” The Apostle Paul declared, “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”