Pay attention to the plumb line

Brick layers use a plumb line to ensure their work is aligned vertically.

To what are our actions aligned? What are our ideals? Do we  measure up? 

If we are not measuring up, then where is our plumbline and what are our expectations?

The prophet Amos (see chapter 7) had a vision of a plumb line. Who would have known? 😊 Here are the verses which describe the vision (The Living Bible):

“The Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, checking it with a plumb line to see if it was straight. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I answered, “A plumb line.”

And he replied, “I will test my people with a plumb line.”

In the Oct. 7, 1944, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, there is an article called “God’s own plan”. Here Martha E. Newall relates the plumbline to “unerring divine Principle”.*

To students of Christian Science endeavoring to see God's plan for the freedom of the world, Amos' vision of God standing on a wall "with a plumbline in his hand," which was to be set in the midst of Israel, signifies unerring divine Principle, which demands perfection in all our ways. And is not this perfection the plumb line by which we need to measure all our planning?

This reminds me of a passage in the Christian Science textbook:

Man's moral mercury, rising or falling, registers his healing ability and fitness to teach.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 449:11–13)

Amos had a clear picture of a plumb line. This inspired his actions. We too have clear and inspired messages come to us. We just need to pay attention.

Julie Swannell

*Newall also mentions “mass mesmerism” which would suggest that our prayers are insignificant in the face of world problems.