Spiritual Short

Haven’t we all yearned to feel God’s presence? Who exactly is this God we want to feel close to? In the book of Revelation, St. John refers to the “seven Spirits which are before his throne” ( 1:4 ).

I found myself asking myself that question one day, and my answer was: to get and to give. What do I want to get? Answer: Inspiration; a better understanding of God; healing.

It was 10:20 one Sunday morning when I arrived at church. The organ prelude had just begun.

On a trip to South Africa, I heard a church member tell of an indigenous daisy ( Gerbera jamesonii) in southern Transvaal that turns its head toward the sunlight. He went out into a field of these flowers to see them all facing the sun.

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.

Often as I go through my busy day, things that need prayerful attention come to thought—little aches and pains, annoyances at something someone said, fears and anxieties. For a long time my response would be, “I need to pray about that.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, devotes almost two and a half pages in the Christian Science textbook to answer the question: “What is man?” ( Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,  pp. 475–477 ).

Today I was thinking about Jesus’ healing of the woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years (see Luke 13:11–13 ). It follows a pattern typical of Jesus’ healings: He saw the woman.

I used to feel concerned that some By-Laws Mary Baker Eddy included in the Manual of The Mother Church seemed outdated or unnecessary for our time. One in particular is on page 48 : “A member of The Mother Church shall not haunt Mrs.

The answer to a question in the March 2014 Journal about the actuality of the Daniel in the lions’ den story reminded me of a story my mother often shared with me. One day when she was three years old, her family drove to a gas station, where the owner kept a large, vicious, snarling dog chained up on the property.