I was newly minted in the Christian Science practice, building a career as a practitioner while taking care of a young family and home. The noise of numerous obligations clamoring for my attention reached a crescendo when I woke early one morning feeling deflated and ill with cold symptoms. I questioned whether I should take practice calls until my mounting household chores were done and I felt well. I needed answers as well as inspiration and healing, and I found it an in unexpected way.
Whenever I face a personal challenge, I turn to the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson and apply it to my life, studying each citation from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, as if it holds a special message for me. That week, the Lesson-Sermon included this admonishment from Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:33, 34).
I read the first sentence of this statement as a directive to be calm and not troubled over my daily cares, but to seek God first and to expect that everything else would fall into place. Righteousness has been described, at least in theological terms, as involving a right relationship to God. I knew that Jesus had given us another charge, namely, to love our neighbor as ourself (see Mark 12:31). Therefore, I reasoned, in seeking my right relationship with God, I also needed to seek a right relationship with my neighbor.
