For all of good the past hath had
Remains to make our own time glad.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 238)
Whenever we sing the poem of John Greenleaf Whittier set to music in the Christian Science Hymnal, these lines lift my heart and seem to apply to me as I look back on the beneficent influence of Christian Science throughout my life. The afterglow of many healings and blessings remanins and enlivens my present awarencess of God's goodness and power.
When my mother was a little girl, she was healed of stomach trouble that had been pronounced incurable. My earliest memories bring up scenes of my mother and grandmother studying the Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly, reading the periodicals, and enjoying their church work. Illness and discord were not part of our conversation. Our happy childhood, with problems solved quickly as a rule, was a natural consequence of our harmonious home atmosphere and of turning to God for our help. Our father was not a Christian Scientist, but he always championed it and frequently attended church services with us.
