Many of us seem to carry around the consequences of things that took place in the past. Although these earlier events or conditions may have different labels—such as strenuous activity, accidents, or even genetics—the spiritual path that leads out of the resulting difficulties is essentially the same. That path is spiritual regeneration.
Some years ago I had an experience that continues to provide inspiration and encouragement. At the time, I was employed teaching secondary school students. The job involved vigorous physical exercise each day playing a home-grown game, which was rather like a cross between basketball and rugby. There were two cross-country races to be run each week, two afternoons spent splitting lengths of timber, and two and a half days of hiking through the mountains carrying tents and supplies for the weekend. It was a great life but a strenuous one, and after looking forward to an upcoming holiday, I found that I could barely move because of some kind of back complaint.
When the problem first arose, I began to pray —that is, to affirm my spiritual likeness to God as His image, and hence my freedom from anything that would suggest I could be other than spiritually perfect and harmonious. After a week or so when there was little progress, I decided to ask a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me.
