Root finding has become an absorbing hobby for many. Whether or not we've been caught up in it, we might view this development as an invitation to dig deeper for the real roots of our identity and individuality.
Christian Science teaches emphatically that God, good, is the one and only creator. Not only did He make all that was made but He made it good. "Cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms," Science and Health, p. 262 Mrs. Eddy writes. Then we need not trace human history or travel to ancestral homelands in order to find our real roots. Instead, we turn to Love, the tender Father-Mother of us all, for our inheritance. We learn to see ourselves and everyone in Him as the spiritual, perfect effect of this only cause. Speaking of man, Mrs. Eddy notes, "The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry." ibid., p. 63 And that is the background of each and every one of us as the sons and daughters of God.
I had been told my ancestors came from across the sea. But my roots search did not necessitate a long journey. A visit to a nearby Christian Science Reading Room was sufficient. There—at a large table with the Bible, Mrs. Eddy's writings, and Concordances to these works spread out in front of me—I feasted on all I could find about roots, ancestry, inheritance, heritage, birthright, source, cause, and the like. My quest began with the Bible's comforting assurance, "If the root be holy, so are the branches." Rom. 11:16 Knowing God to be my source, I learned more of my spiritual (and only!) self as the effect of Love. What inspiration I had tracing my family tree, starting with the root, Spirit! Pondering Christ Jesus' words "I am the vine, ye are the branches," John 15:5 I began to see the Christ, the ideal man, the spiritual idea of God, as the real selfhood of the beloved sons and daughters of the one infinite Father-Mother. Each individual idea is a vital branch of this perfect vine, never competing nor struggling for self-expression, but joining with the others in harmony. Each individual idea is necessary in the perfect, active whole.
