Articles

When I was appointed chair of my branch church’s lecture committee, I felt a bit daunted. I had never been involved with planning a Christian Science lecture before.

One day while I was working in the Reading Room of my local Christian Science church, a gentleman whom I hadn’t seen before came in the door. He began asking questions about Christian Science.

I used to find thoughts about church coming to me such as, “Do you really want to go? Have you figured out how far you have to drive, what it costs, and how long you’ll be on the road?” These thoughts needed to be checked and corrected.   Several ideas from a recent Journal article inspired me as I thought about this topic.

A backhoe operator dug a deep hole in the lawn with such careful attention that his coworker yelled with delight, “You’re a sculptor!” That might seem like an odd way to describe someone operating heavy machinery, but his coworker was commenting on the preciseness of his work in shaping this deep hole. We may not be sculptors by trade, but we all can work with similar precision in shaping our thoughts.

Early in my public practice of Christian Science, someone called me late one night to see if I would pray for a woman (a Christian Scientist) who was only semi-conscious and delirious. I agreed to pray for her and set at work to understand more fully that God is Life.

In an editorial in the Christian Science Sentinel dated May 1, 2023, the author speaks of stillness and how, in busy contemporary life, many people turn to prayer for calm grounding (Mary Beattie, “ The value of stillness ”). She writes, “Opening up to a quiet fount of spiritual ideas stills thought that is fearful, muddled, or self-focused and leads to healing.

I often carry my smartphone in a rear pocket of my trousers. Rather than sitting on the phone, when I used a ride sharing car recently, I took it out and laid it on the seat next to me—then forgot to take it with me when I left the car.

I’ve found that physical workouts can be such a joy and take so many different forms. Sometimes we exercise in an effort to stay fit, and sometimes we do it more for fun.

Recently I experienced the longest trip of my life, and it reinforced my understanding of and trust in God. I was traveling with a comrade to another part of the country, to support a mutual friend at a family funeral.

It was a quiet evening and I had just made myself a cup of hot chocolate. I was pleased with myself and my day until I mistakenly laid my hand on the hot burner on the stove where, moments before, the milk for the hot chocolate had been.