I Knew an individual who spent a very unhappy childhood because she thought of herself as very homely. Her face was covered with freckles, and she seemed to have no redeeming features. She was told that God made her and that she should not rebel against Him. She was also taught that God is Love. She, however, could not understand a God who is Love being so unjust as to make other children beautiful and herself ugly. She loved the beautiful, especially in nature—the flower, tree, sky, and sea—and endeavored to express that beauty on paper with brush and color. This appealed to her to such an extent that as she grew into young womanhood she made painting her vocation and achieved not a little national fame.
But all the while back in her consciousness lurked the thought that she herself showed none of the beauty she loved. Then she began to study Christian Science and learned that God is indeed Love, and that He is impartial in His bestowals. He did not make her material body. He made neither beautiful matter nor ugly matter; for He did not make matter at all. She had been holding a wrong concept of beauty and had been looking for it where it never was and never could be found. She read and accepted with joy and gratitude the words of Mary Baker Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 247): "Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Being possesses its qualities before they are perceived humanly. Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color;" and the further statement, "The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony."
The old beliefs of dissatisfaction and resentment fled away and were replaced by a sincere desire to reflect and to express to all mankind the true beauties of Soul. With this changed thought came also the ability to see and express more readily and completely the beauties of nature in her paintings. A higher power seemed to guide her hand. However, she was not fully satisfied, and in due time she gave up painting as her vocation and devoted her entire time to the study and practice of Christian Science, telling those who questioned her that she had found a higher way of expressing harmony and beauty.
