IN MY CONTINUING QUEST to become a more effective Christian healer, I find invaluable guidance in the Manual of The Mother Church. I take seriously what its author, Mary Baker Eddy, said about the value to healers of this amazingly concise document: "Of this I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 230).
I've been especially inspired by the By-Law titled "Moral Obligations" (Manual, p. 31). It points out the duty of Readers (those who read from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures at Christian Science church services) to be well prepared for their work. While specific to Readers, anyone can apply the guidance in this By-Law to their own daily experience.
This By-Law states, in part, "They [Readers] must keep themselves unspotted from the world,—uncontaminated with evil,—that the mental atmosphere they exhale shall promote health and holiness, even that spiritual animus so universally needed." From this statement, I see that in order to exhale the mental atmosphere that promotes health and holiness, I must give primary attention to the purity of my own consciousness, or what I think of as my inner space. This By-Law encourages me to regard this inner space as a sacred place—a sanctuary for worshiping God and for defending the purity of His spiritual creation by accepting only spiritually pure thoughts and desires as my own.
