Articles

Are you a tomb dweller? I was. My thought was impoverished, and I had a bleak outlook on life.

In 1861 , at the beginning of the Civil War, Miss Clara Barton was busy working in Washington, DC, as a recording clerk for the US Patent Office. Since childhood (she was born in 1821), she had always desired to be of service to her fellow-man.

What are landmarks , and what do they mean in our lives? Well, obviously they’re sometimes used as signposts—directions. Turn left at such-and-such a landmark.

In middle school , I was having a difficult time getting along with my parents and enjoying school. I always complained about the overload of homework and how I believed the majority of my teachers were unreasonable.

As a Reader in my local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I was sitting at the front of church one Sunday morning, watching and welcoming those entering for the church service. I noticed the variety of people coming in, and I started to get caught up in thinking about their personalities, their appearances, and their conversations—in other words, paying attention to the congregation but not praying for it.

Jesus taught , “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” ( Matthew 5:4 ). But how does one get to the point of being comforted—where the pain of mourning ceases? The saying “Time heals all wounds” just can’t be true.

Prayer means different things to different people. In Christian Science, prayer is considered effective to the degree it brings thought into harmony with the ultimate truth that a perfect God, Spirit, has created the true selfhood of each of us in His own image and likeness.

In my community in West Africa, a father’s presence in the home is considered indispensable. His absence, perhaps as a result of death, a divorce in the family, or indifference toward his child, is seen as the major cause of delinquency and failure among children.

Moments after burning my hand on our stove top, I remembered there were many healings of burns, which I had heard at our local Church of Christ, Scientist’s, testimony meetings and read about in the Christian Science periodicals. This solid and extensive record of healing was so encouraging.

We can all gain new glimpses of our genuine identity as God’s idea, always expressing ageless Life, God.