For prospective parents, the understanding of man's spiritual origin in God, Mind, can be an inspiring foundation for prayer.
The months prior to the birth of a child give parents the opportunity to understand more fully the fatherhood and motherhood of God and to see with clarity man's actual origin, substance, heritage, form, identity, individuality, and nature as spiritual. This understanding serves as a protection to the entire experience, lifting it above the possibility of chance to the natural manifestation of divine law. Seeing that man is truly born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" John 1:13. helps overrule supposed physiological laws, with their sometimes detrimental effects, and opens thought to seeing birth not as a material process but as the reflection of the creative power of divine Spirit.
Building on the understanding that man's origin is in Spirit, we come to see that man's substance is not subject to discord or malfunction. It expresses the freshness, beauty, purity, and immortality of Spirit. Christ Jesus brought this truth to light through his healing works.
Understanding that man's preexistence and eternal continuance are in Spirit displaces the false sense of identity as formed materially and therefore subject to chance or unpredictability. To see the substance of a child's being as timeless, as eternal, as infinite, is to free him from apparent material laws regarding substance. As Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health, "Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being." Science and Health, p. 264.
The true identity of a child is nourished by everlasting Father-Mother Love, is established by unerring, fixed Principle, and expresses the perfection of endless Life. His identity is inseparable from God. It evidences the nature and action of the one Mind. Man is the individual expression of God. Goodness, joy, intelligence, beauty, wisdom, activity — all the creator's qualities — identify him. Each individuality is loved, cherished, and indispensable to the Father's allness. There can be no unwanted child in the expression of God's fullness.
As the birth commences, parents can rely on the fact that true creation is spiritual, governed harmoniously by divine Principle. In the consciousness of divine Love's presence, there is no fear of an opposing force or law to obstruct the birth. Since God's law alone is supreme, no other supposed law has actual power to interfere with the birth process.
Spiritual preparation through prayer has been a natural and essential part of our family's development. This has particularly been true in the times before the births of my children and has helped to free me from fear and discomfort. The births of the first two children were quick and free of pain. However, with the third child, the birth started forward briefly, and then for almost a day nothing significant happened. The Christian Science practitioner who was helping me through prayer quoted this statement from Science and Health: "The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to unclasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death." Ibid., p. 412. As I hung up the telephone, I asked in prayerful thought, "What is holding up this birth?" The answer that came was that no material law had any hold on God's child and that His child was governed by the law and activity of Spirit. Within a minute of that firm declaration of truth, the birth proceeded.
We were having the child at home and had the help of a Christian Science nurse. And we engaged a doctor to be present at the birth. Within an hour or so our child arrived, but the doctor wasn't able to be there, although he did come within thirty minutes. The Christian Science nurse was present and gently took care of the child. The truth that the practitioner had shared from Science and Health was just exactly what was needed to bring harmony to the birth, and that truth continued to light the way as the situation developed.
A medical nurse who worked with the doctor came to our home in the morning to do a routine check of the baby. She found that its heart-rate pattern was questionable. The doctor insisted that we bring the baby into his office immediately for a further check. When we agreed, we were informed that the child could very well have a serious heart defect. We were strongly urged to have a specialist test the child, and the doctor reiterated the consequences of not doing this.
To parents of a new child, this verdict could have been devastating, coming on the heels of so much joy and gratitude for the birth itself. But all those nine months, and even months before that, had been spent in opening thought to God's creation and beholding the truth of His offspring. It had been a cherished, consecrated time of prayer. I was fortified with the spiritual understanding that I had gained during that time and felt confident that the child's life was governed by divine law. I had come to see that the very source of the child's being was Spirit and that the child therefore had only the perfect substance of Spirit, expressing the perfect action of Spirit. I realized that the integrity of what was called heart action had a divine source; it wasn't in matter. I saw too that this action was preserved through the divine law of Life.
Humbly listening for God's wisdom in the situation, we took the baby to have the tests. After the examination, the specialist pronounced the child perfectly healthy. Needless to say, we rejoiced with much gratitude!
An understanding of man's spiritual origin brought to bear on childbirth brings great blessings, because it lifts off material theories and reveals man as perfect, governed by the law of Spirit.
