Articles

MY FATHER WAS usually a snazzy dresser. However, in his free time, he preferred a pair of old overalls for digging in his garden or taking me on blueberry-picking jaunts in the woods.

IMAGINE GROWING UP as a child without fear, free to push beyond limitations, having complete confidence that God, being divine, all-powerful, ever-present Love, is always there to protect us and that suffering is not God's will. And then imagine this confidence being played out in immediate healings through my own prayers—at age seven, after falling on my glass jar of spiders, which broke into many pieces; at age eight, when I was stung by a swarm of bees one summer at Girl Scout camp; and at age ten, when someone accidentally poured a boiling liquid on my leg.

THERE IS A JAPANESE SAYING, Shoshin wasurezu, which roughly translates as "don't forget your original motivating spark. " Shoshin literally means "first heart.

Christian Science practitioners TONY AND JENNY LOBL recently talked with the Journal about their healing practices, and how their professional work as practitioners affects their personal lives. Tony is a contributing editor for the Journal.

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL my daughter attended wanted to instill a love of science in the students. One of its initiatives, a science fair for the youngest grades, gave each child an opportunity to choose a project to present to the class and the parents.

WHAT IF A CHURCH BUILDING burned to ashes: black paper powder instead of hymnals and committee reports, smoke instead of furniture and walls. What would be left of Church? Everything! One may ask, "What burned then if Church is left intact?" Papers, drywall, and tiles were burnt, but not Church! Then what is this Church unconsumed by fire—indestructible in every way? How often did Jesus refer to church activity? Didn't Jesus mention the word church only three times in the entire Gospels? Did Jesus only deliver a message of love to humanity and not mean to get involved with church activities, which started later? No, Jesus lived his concept of Church.

THE FIRST GLIMMERS of my commitment to the practice of Christian Science, and the healing love that it brings, began in a hospital in another country, thousands of miles from my home in the United States, with the words of a pediatrician: "Your son has a 50–50 chance of living through the night. If he lives, he will in all likelihood be physically and/or mentally handicapped.

The History of Christian Science class teaching begins in 1866, the year Mary Baker Patterson (later Mary Baker Eddy) suffered a serious injury in an accident. Three days later, to the amazement of her friends, she was healed.

1. Leigh Daugherty's article, "Keeping Confident in Christian Healing," brings fresh, experience-based inspiration to the Journal's feature section this month.

MY RIDING INSTRUCTOR WAS NOT HAPPY. I'd been trotting my horse, Belle, on a circle in the grass, and she'd been poking her nose up and looking around, blatantly ignoring my cues.