Although Christian Science did not take hold in my life until rather late in my adult years, the seed was planted in early childhood. A cherished memory of my father, who passed on when I was about four and a half, centers on Christian Science and was, in part, the means of bringing me into Science.
When I was still very young my father became interested in Christian Science. I remember being taken, as a toddler, to a Christian Science Sunday School, where a teacher spoke of God, who is Love and who is always with us. I remember how happy and secure I felt there. Most of all, I remember sitting on my father's lap at home, while he read to me from two books that I thought were beautiful. Of course, I know now that these "special books" were the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. But many years would pass before I would realize that their real beauty was not in their outward appearance but in the healing messages within.
At my father's passing my childhood was saddened. My mother continued to take my younger sister and me to the Christian Science Sunday School for a year or two. Eventually, however, we returned to the church in which my mother had been raised. I remained in this church for a large part of my adult life. Yet I could never make its doctrines my own. After a while I became disenchanted with religion.
