The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-06-11
Pray as You Go

lust purchased, reader niistouk the
words "Pay as you go" for 'Pray as
you co." What an arresting title, he
thought, as he eagerly began reading
the article to learn how the writer
had developed the idea. The first
sentence, of course, disclosed the
correct subject, but the idea--Pray
as you go--persisted.
"Pay-as-you-go" plans, by which
income taxes may be paid as income
is earned, have been In the forefront
of public discussion. BY this meth
cd, ii is asserted, the burden of ac-
cumulated debt for Federal income
taxes will be lifted, sinceethe tax will
be paid as the income is received.
Thus, it is reasoned, taxes on former
income will not accrue as liability
against present earnings. So. too.
when we pay cash for purchases in
everyday living, we avoid debt. We
are spared the accumulated burden
of unsettled accounts. AS a result,
our power to think is left free to be
exercised productivity instead of be-
ing haInpered by worry and fear in
cidental to debt. Continued alert
ness and control of our thinking
along constructive, spiritual lines
will also ensure q balanced mental
account.
Does not effective prayer mean
continuous spiritual thinking? The
common notion that prayer is form
of thinking or talking to be used
only in special cases of emergency
has been pretty well disproved.
More and more are men coming to
see that habitually reverent atti-
tude of thought, a daily acknowledge
ment of Gods ever-presence, brings
an assurance and a poise that moth
ing else can.
Pray as you 60. spray without
ceasing," the Bible states it q Thes-
salonians SID. This becomes
practical possibility when prayerful
thinking is understood as an admo-
milton to think rightly all the time.
More than this, it urges us to keep
our mental accounts square as we go.
We are not only to pray-to think
rightly-"without ceaSing," we are
to cancel undesirable thoughts as
they are suggested. and thereby
square accounts hourly. There will
then be no accumulation of mental
weights of discord, fear, suffering,
or unhappiness. -.
A simple rule by which to make
practical this power to govern our
thinking is given by Mary Baker
Eddy on page PSI of Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures"
where she writes, "Hold thought
steadfastly to the enduring, the good,
and the true, and you will bring
these into your experience proper
tionably to their occupancy Of your
thoughts"
There is no mystery, no imprac-
teal advice, in the phrase, spray
without ceasing." 1t requires pri-
marily the conscious effort to enter
tain only right ideas as they unfold.
practice makes perfect" is an ak
iom, applicable to praying, or think
ing rightly. When confronted by an
emergency, the right thinker, instead
of striving frantically to meet an
immediate demand upon his spiritual
resources, finds himself conscious of
dominion over fear and over a belief
that he is in danger. He then needs
only to hold his ground, understand
ing and acknowledging Gods pres
ence and protection. =.
Just as wisely utilizing ones finan-
cial resources avoids debt, so utiliz-
ing ones divine abilities enhances
ones spiritual resources and domin-
ion. In the mental realm we are to
do what "Pay as you go" requires in
financial matters accumulate no
debts. No mental burdens of anxiety,
doubt, or fear are to be allowed to
accumulate.
Under the stress of circumstances,
astonishing things are sometimes ac-
complished through prayer by those
unaccustomed to pray as they go.
Faced with an emergency, people
have been known to reach unwonted
heights of spiritual resourcefulness.
Do not such occasions offer an ink
ling Of the divine capacities that
would be ours daily and hourly were
we to develop our ability truly to
'pray without ceasing"-to prove the
actual presence and supreme power
of God, good, in our experienced
spray as you go" may well be needed
daily by us all.-The ChristiGn Science
Monitor.