There’s a move in basketball known as the “look-away” shot. It’s when a player takes a deep shot, usually from beyond the three-point arc, then immediately looks away to celebrate his anticipated success or runs downcourt to defend the opposing team’s next play. He knows it was a good shot and doesn’t watch to see if the ball made the basket. He feels confident it hit the mark.
Few have mastered this move. Granted, those who are successful have practiced the shot thousands of times. They know what an accurate shot feels like. That degree of confidence is impressive, but it wouldn’t be so impressive if the shot didn’t go in. The player knows what he knows, and the results bear that out.
I’ve been thinking about what it means to have that kind of confidence in a well-given Christian Science treatment. For those unfamiliar with what a treatment is, there is no formula. Each Christian Science treatment is unique, individual, specific, God-inspired prayer for ourselves or someone who has called on us for help. To be successful, the work must be done conscientiously and faithfully. It requires the mental discipline to stick with the spiritual truth we are affirming about ourselves or another, and a willingness to humbly listen for divine Mind’s direction. Treatment draws on an intelligent understanding of the nature of God, Spirit, and of our inseparable relationship to God as His image and likeness. This inspired understanding brings about a change in the thought of the one being treated and a corresponding change in their human experience—in a word, healing.
