THANKS TO SPACE TRAVELERS AND THEIR CAMERAS, the human family has a remarkable conception of earth unknown to the ancients—call it the tiny blue planet phenomenon. Photos like the one on our cover evoke a variety of responses, from awe to nurturing love to a feeling of smallness. I'm in the awe and affection camps.
Such images can prod me to pray differently. To mentally wipe out boundaries, all that divides people based on race, nation, or religion. And to deny validity to all that makes us feel remote from "the sustaining infinite." That's the term Mary Baker Eddy employed to launch her primary book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, into the deep space of spiritual exploration. With it she launches readers' explorations of God's nature, and the proving of spiritual existence.
Consider what the reality of a sustaining infinite God says about healing global challenges. Sustaining: There's a divine power that maintains creation; that upholds and strengthens the whole, the individual being, and all the ordered cords of relationship; and that this Creator is a constant, caring, life-giving presence. Infinite: There's no limit to God's extent, reach, intelligence; consequently, no limit on prayer that dares to claim the infinite as both cause and effect.
