When I’ve been healed of some physical difficulty through applying Christian Science treatment, I’ve always gotten a fuller understanding of what God is and what I am as a loved idea, reflection, of my Father-Mother—my divine Parent. Has healing been easy—instantaneous? Sometimes, but not always. On occasion, I’ve had to work harder and longer for it, to gain the needed spiritual clarity.
Jesus certainly made that point with his parable about a man, who after a long, arduous trip arrived late at night at a friend’s home (see Luke 11:5–13). The friend, because he had no food prepared in his house to give the traveler, went to his neighbor to request some bread. But the neighbor, not wishing to have his rest disturbed, turned him down. That, however, didn’t stop the one who was determined to obtain what he knew was appropriate for him to give the weary and hungry traveler. The solution was that he didn’t back down. Instead, he kept knocking at his neighbor’s door, until the neighbor finally yielded to his insistence, and gave him the bread.
In a poem by Mary Baker Eddy titled “Christ my Refuge,” I feel that she—in a different way—was making the same point that Jesus made in that parable, when she wrote, “I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright” (Poems, p. 12). This led me to see that there is far more to healing in Christian Science than just feeling better, as welcome as that is. I’ve learned, as many of us have, that as we go for the learning—for kissing the cross—this process aligns our thoughts with an awareness of divine Love’s care for us. The result is healing—the brighter morrow. The humility, the effort, the willingness to gain the real healing is worth it. It’s that splendid spiritual gain that one can’t buy or sidestep, because it’s priceless, and it’s earned.
