Last autumn when the foliage was at its finest, my neighbor called out for me to “Look!” I moved away from my car and glanced over but really didn’t see anything extraordinary. Then, I walked over to where she was standing and really looked to where she was pointing. There, framed by the delicate yellow branches of a white birch tree was an entire hillside, distant but vibrant with fall color. Yellows, reds, oranges, and greens in the strong afternoon sun lit up the hillside. My neighbor was right; it was an extraordinary scene.
As thanked her, I realized that I was learning a spiritual lesson here. However, I needed to look at the scene from my neighbor’s point of view. Soon it occurred to me that I could apply this lesson to a physical situation that had been painful and recurring.
Mary Baker Eddy, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, on page 477, says of Jesus, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Savior saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.”
What I needed to do was to see myself more clearly as God’s perfect child. I needed to shift the position of my thought. I needed to stand where the Christ stood, seeing only perfection and wholeness, with no pain and no fear of a recurrence of a problem.
By praying in this manner and being grateful for my neighbor’s awareness and insight, I was healed. The situation, which had troubled me over several months, vanished as I used my new perspective. My more spiritual point of view had led me to overcome my physical difficulty. I am so grateful for Christian Science.
C.N., Williamsport, PA
Some weeks ago, I sat down at the piano to practice the hymns I was to play for Sunday School. When I tried to get seated, somehow the piano bench and I went backwards together to the floor, and I felt quite a bit of pain and concern for my foot.
The words, “All power is given unto our God, on Him we place reliance,” a hymn by Martin Luther (Tune: “Ein Feste Burg”), which I had just been singing, stayed with me.
Another favorite idea that supported me, one from the Bible, was this: "For in Him [God] we live, and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Then the idea came to my thought that my identity was spiritual, not in matter. Therefore no part of my identity had fallen at all. I was held in complete perfection in divine Mind (God). I actually felt safe at that moment, because realizing this truth kept me unfazed by the physical appearance.
My husband helped me up and I turned to the Bible lesson for that week. The Bible lessons are made up of citations from the Bible (King James Version), and from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. One sentence really stood out to me: "If they yield to this influence [error, mesmerism, hypnotism], it is because their belief is not better instructed by spiritual understanding" (p. 402:26-28).
I knew that we are "better instructed", because Love (God) is always present to lead us to the spiritual understanding, and keeps us safe from any false influences.
So I was in Sunday School on Sunday morning, and was able to play the hymns. I was so grateful for this glimpse of the spiritual fact which came to thought, right when the physical picture tried to say otherwise.
I am truly grateful for this experience, as every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.
J.K., State College, PA