There have been times when I have found it difficult to focus on reading a very familiar account from the Bible. There have been occasions when I have caught myself daydreaming in church instead of being uplifted by hearing well-known passages from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. There have been times when studying the weekly Bible Lesson (outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly) has been especially challenging because the suggestion has come, "I've read it all before."
I've been encouraged by people who have said, "Think of the Bible characters as familiar friends —you wouldn't want to ignore an old friend, would you?" Or, "Pray to recognize the infinite inspiration of God's Word." But what has helped me most in my ongoing study and practice of Christian Science is what one might call new contexts. One dictionary definition of context is "the part or parts of a written or spoken passage preceding or following a particular word or group of words and so intimately associated with them as to throw light upon their meaning." Other definitions refer in a more general sense to the environment in which something exists or occurs, or to surroundings. New light is thrown on spiritual concepts as we consider them in different contexts in our spiritual study and in life itself.
Take the concept of God, for instance. In response to the question "What is God?" Science and Health says, "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." Science and Health, p. 465. The cherishing of each of these terms for God enlarges our understanding of His nature. The next time you hear or read the word God, you could think of His nature as supreme, or as Life itself, or as Principle, and so on. Such an approach, applied in the specific context of your activity at the moment, can begin to give you a broader and more useful perception of what God really is—and can bring healing.
