Do you ever watch the evening news and wish you could make all the problems disappear? I have. I’ve often thought, “How could our world, so filled with good, have so many problems?” I wanted the people living in war-torn areas to live without fear. I wanted the floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes to stop, and for everyone to be free from pain and disease.
As a Christian Scientist, I knew that evil and suffering were unknown to God, and I prayed to see their inability to affect man’s indestructible relationship to divine Love. But at the time, my desire to make God’s perfection realized right then was based on a material sense of life. I was trying to help the world achieve material perfection, rather than praying to understand the present harmony of God’s spiritual creation and letting that truth bring healing. The way I was praying, healing just wasn’t going to happen. I needed to pray on the basis of the allness of Spirit, divine Love, and the spiritual perfection of man, Love’s infinite expression.
In an article titled “Angels,” Mary Baker Eddy wrote,“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 307). In seeking a more effective way to pray for humanity, I knew that God, Mind, was always giving me spiritual ideas, and they would inspire my prayers. As I continued to pray and listen, I felt God’s angel thoughts opening to me a higher understanding of life, enabling me to perceive life from a more spiritual perspective. This enlarged the purpose of my prayers, which took on a more expansive and urgent purpose. I saw that not only could I pray for the world as a whole, but as I healed myself and others, I could also help heal the world in that way; therefore, my mission as a healer took on added meaning and importance.
