Home is certainly the place where God should be known. How many times the student of Christian Science is called upon to prove this, is shown by the frequent questions asked as to how one can have more harmony in the home. It may be seen at the outset that if harmony is not apparent in the home, the reason must be that the occupants have not gained the true idea of God and man, and of what constitutes harmony in their relationship to one another. Our Master said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Our Leader gives us in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 587), a very wonderful definition of heaven, which is correlative to the above quotation: "Heaven. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." But one may say, What has this to do with the subject—home? Let us consider.
There is great significance in the relationship of the three words, "harmony," "heaven," and "home." The world may scoff at the thought of using the words "home" and "heaven" together. But Christian Science spiritualizes thought; and in so doing gives much to mortals in the way of a correct apprehension of heaven. So, also, Christian Science is giving the truth which enlightens and uplifts to better, more helpful living. There is great need for better thought concerning home life. In supplying this need, the work of the student of Christian Science must be the correction of wrong thinking. If we have allowed selfishness to reign by indulging the belief that our home, if harmonious, was the result of our work, or if not harmonious, was some one else's fault, we need to obtain a clearer view of the situation, in order to realize harmony.
Heaven, harmony, and home are, all three, mental concepts. Just as surely as we hold a thing in thought, that is what it is to us; and just so surely our thinking affects the manifestation called our home. As we begin to realize the true sense of home, we find it to be a condition of thought produced as positively by divine Mind as is either harmony or heaven. The home where divine Mind governs is as infinite as this Mind. When Solomon reviewed the work which had been accomplished in the building of the temple, he caught a glimpse of infinity when he questioned, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" Solomon, surely, recognized in God's house "the reign of Spirit."
