I was a teenager doing summer volunteer work with children in the inner city. One day, cleaning up after a busy day, I referred to the children as "underprivileged." I've never forgotten the response I got from the director of the community center: She stopped what she was doing, looked me straight in the eyes, and with love and unquestionable authority said, "My dear, there is no such thing as an underprivileged child. Every child is equally privileged by God."
That same summer I was on a quest to gain a clearer understanding of the nature of God and my relationship to Him. I had begun to read Science and Health. And, as a result of my reading, I was discovering a spiritual basis for what that wise director of the community center had said about each child being equally privileged by God. I began to see that God, who is infinite Spirit, is the only real presence and power in the universe. And that I—and every other person—was essentially a spiritual being capable of expressing His nature in goodness, love, strength, intelligence. Science and Health says: "Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God." Science and Health, p. 258.
It seemed to me there were plenty of inequalities among humankind. But I began to realize that if people are actually spiritual in nature, then everyone is connected with God's power and authority. And this "connection" empowers individuals to transcend adverse circumstances. I started thinking of myself and others less on the basis of what was materially visible and limited and more on the basis that God and His children have a spiritual identity that is materially invisible and unlimited. Quite unexpectedly, I began to experience healing as I adopted this way of thinking and praying.
