Articles

How often we find ourselves counting, measuring, and calculating numbers to answer a question, solve a problem, or describe a situation. Numbers permeate so many facets of life, from measuring personal health, to calculating how much time or money we have, to the state of the climate, to name just a few.

A book by a top professor at The Wharton School, the business school at the University of Pennsylvania, identifies some individuals as “givers”—who give without concern for what they may get back—and some as “takers”—who want to receive more than they give and “win” every transaction. The author, Adam Grant, researched which kind of orientation brought more success, both to the individuals and their endeavors.

To quiet the clamor of worldly thinking, many people meditate. Others hike in the wilderness or go on a religious retreat.

We learn in Christian Science that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. And since God is good, we would naturally expect His government to be good—to be fair and just, to express kindness, honesty, incorruptibility.

My parents liked to travel and my childhood was full of many wonderful adventures. I don’t remember every museum, monument, and church we toured, but I remember how Mom prayed before each trip and throughout our vacations.

There’s an expression that “scales fall from someone’s eyes” when they have a revolutionary insight or gain a completely new perspective and understanding. It refers to the Damascus experience of Paul (then known as Saul) when, after he became blind, he was visited by Ananias and, as the Bible describes, “immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith” (see Acts 9:1–18 ).

Arriving early one Sunday morning to support prayerfully the service of my local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I noticed gulls rising, floating, and soaring outside the church edifice as the gentle wind currents actively lifted them.   This reminded me of what my mother had taught me about God when I was a child.

It matters what we think. Every day, we entertain thousands of thoughts.

I’ve recently been considering an idea that provides deep inspiration about how we can heal through the means Christ Jesus did. It’s from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, who said: “Stand porter at the door of thought.

Several months ago I came across a wonderful article titled “ ‘ Refugee is not a profession ’ ” in the Spanish edition of The Herald of Christian Science (Anni Ulich, December 2018). As I read it, tears of gratitude welled up in my eyes.