Mary Baker Eddy tells us on the first page of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." This statement has proved itself true in numerous cases in the experiences of my family and myself as we have traveled the highway from sense to Soul.
I was introduced to Christian Science when I was a lad of about six years of age. At that time I lived in a small town near San Francisco. Across the street from my parents' home lived a family of five, a mother, daughter, and three sons. To me, even at this early age, this family was outstanding. Others in the town recognized something unusual too, for I recall hearing conversations among the neighbors concerning this family which would invariably end up with the remark, "Yes, they are fine people, but you know they are Christian Scientists." This impressed me very much, and later I thought, If these persons are Christian Scientists and such a fine family, then Christian Science must also be fine.
But it was not until I married a Christian Scientist that I began to understand a little of this Science. I attended a lecture occasionally and, at times, the Sunday services and Wednesday evening testimony meetings. A friend of my wife's, who was a Christian Science practitioner, visited us sometimes, and when she talked to me of Christian Science, I would tell her that it was not for me, because I understood that the smoking habit was looked upon with disfavor. I was a heavy smoker and had no desire to stop smoking. Some time later, however, my family and I were on an automobile trip, and as my smoking made the car rather stuffy, the thought came to me to throw away my partially smoked cigar. This occurred nearly twenty years ago, and I have never had the desire to smoke since that day.
