My friend had just returned from a trip with her husband to Arizona. I was eager to hear about the sights and, in particular, the shopping she did in Scottsdale. She responded to my curiosity with "Well, I had the most wonderful time. I spent nearly all of it in the Christian Science Reading Room."
A few years later I was living in the bush in Australia. The few occasions I was able to go to Sydney, I looked forward to browsing in the big city shops. I wasn't a spender; my interest was in looking. I was intrigued by the variety and beauty of all the "things." However, I found I also stopped at the Christian Science Reading Room. Soon, I realized that I spent more time in the Reading Room than on the streets window-shopping. Since most of my free time was in the Reading Room, it dawned on me that the "things" I had thought alluring were counterfeits of the real "things"—the spiritual ideas—which I was finding through prayerful study in the Reading Room.
My Reading Room visits gathered added importance after a conversation with a thoughtful Christian Scientist. "Why would Christian Scientists go to their own Reading Room?" she asked. "Most have their own reference books. Because of," she said, answering her own question, "its healing atmosphere."
