As I prepared to take Christian Science class instruction about five years ago, I cleared my schedule, requested time off from work, and told my friends I’d be away. I also prayed about the class, and my teacher did, too. I knew the class was 12 days long, several hours per day, would require homework, and that I’d learn how to heal myself and others through prayer. My preparatory prayer to God included being open and receptive to what I would learn in class and to not have the message inhibited by any distraction. I thought about what Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health about having the “willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea” (pp. 323–324).
As the first day of class approached, distractions were everywhere. I identified these distractions as trying to take me away from God. First, I needed to be in Massachusetts for my grandfather’s memorial service the weekend before class. Then, I was leaving for a wedding immediately after it finished.
My love and appreciation for all of God’s creatures continues to grow.
