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Running a little late one morning years ago, I sat down to quickly read the weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly, hoping to glean an inspiring idea to take to work with me. The Lesson included the story of Daniel thrown into a lions’ den for his refusal to stop praying to God.

I lost my job because of the pandemic. With millions of folks overwhelming the system, filing for unemployment insurance in my state was difficult to impossible.

A healing I once had taught me a vital spiritual lesson and has enabled me to pray more wholeheartedly and clearly for those struggling with illness in the world today. At the time I was taken ill with a fever and a cough, so I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me.

This author shares fresh and comforting insights about the Lord’s Prayer.

The Bible makes it so very clear that man is created in the image and likeness of God and that God loves each of us with an everlasting love. As the prophet Jeremiah expressed so beautifully, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” ( Jeremiah 31:3 ).

When a museum conservator is restoring a broken artifact—say, a marble statue that is missing a body part—he or she first has to consider what the entire artifact originally looked like. The wholeness of the original statue is the model, and before starting the restoration, the conservator must first perceive this form clearly in thought.

“Bless the past. ” That new idea, shared by a friend, was a powerful wake-up call to me.

  In 1984, I was an executive for a bottled water company. As a sponsor for that summer’s Olympic games in Los Angeles, we were awarded over three million tickets for 31 venues to distribute among employees, customers, and business associates.

I had become very competitive while driving. On the road, I often saw myself and others engaged in one-upmanship, where I would maneuver my vehicle to “beat” them as though it were a race.

I have always been grateful for these words in Isaiah: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” ( 30:21 ). When making decisions in life, it’s sometimes hard to know if we are taking the right step.