THERE IS A JAPANESE SAYING, Shoshin wasurezu, which roughly translates as "don't forget your original motivating spark." Shoshin literally means "first heart." It reminds me of Jesus' instruction to his disciples to become as a little child in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 18:3). Children have so many "firsts"—their first steps, their first words, their first day of school. Every moment is a new discovery.
I can confess how much I felt that discovery when I had my first healing through prayer. I was a wife and mother raising two children and working as a college professor. I had just found out about Christian Science, and had asked a Christian Science practitioner for support through prayer. She spoke to me about my true worth as the perfect, spiritual child, loved by my true Parent, God. My badly abscessed tooth and gums, both scheduled for surgery, were healed. For the first time in my life, God, man, spirituality, and wellness were all connected. What impressed me was not how quickly I was healed, but how everything made sense to me. I was like a child gazing at the stars at night, somehow comprehending the vastness and beauty of the universe.
I trust everyone who has been exposed to Christian Science has had moments like that. But as adults it often seems difficult to maintain that childlike joy and enthusiasm. When I hear some people lamenting that "Christian Science doesn't heal like it used to," or talk of shrinking church membership, I sense fear, disappointment, and resentment. At those times I feel the need to take a stand in my own thought—to claim that "first love" I felt all those years ago when I was touched by the universal laws of divine Love. Whether we are new to Christian Science, or come from generations who practiced it, we must continually recapture the essence of our "first love." It is only here, in this place of gratitude and a sense of being perfectly cared for, that we are released from the unjust dogma within and without our church movement. It is here that we are established in the infinite reality where Spirit—and healing—reigns.
