The city near my former home has an active port. Like other ports, it serves oceangoing freighters, carrying important goods to and from the area. But this is an inland city, located in a fertile valley some distance from the coast. The explanation for this is that the city is connected by a network of waterways to San Francisco Bay and thus to the Pacific Ocean.
It was not always possible, however, for large vessels to be accommodated at the port. The river there was simply too restrictive. Since the natural channel was confining and the valley's rich resources and harvests were needed in other parts of the world, the dredging of a deeper, wider channel became the logical means of increasing the flow of goods outward. The benefits have been far-reaching.
When Mary Baker Eddy first discovered Christian Science, she imagined that the world would be delighted to accept this truth, since Jesus' healings and teachings had been based on it. But this was not the case. Science was a radical departure from established patterns of thought, and the instances of healing that resulted from its practice were frequently misunderstood. So of necessity the Discoverer of Christian Science became the Founder of a Church.
