The healing role of divine Science in sports

Sports can be such fun, and they can play a big role in our lives—whether we follow a particular team, or we ourselves or another family member or friend are participating in them. At their best, sports can bring tremendous joy for all ages and teach inspiring life lessons. 

Our daughter developed a serious interest in tennis when she was quite young. It didn’t take my husband and me long to realize that this activity was going to need to be backed up with a great deal of prayer, both on and off the court. Neither of us had any background in elite sports, and we had a lot to learn. We gained a huge appreciation for the healing power of divine Science, which Mary Baker Eddy discovered and explained in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Here are just a few reasons why it is practical, invaluable, and indispensable to an athlete. 

Athletes often have exaggerated concerns about their bodies because the body is essential to their performance. They can manage their diets, fitness regimens, sleep patterns, and other daily disciplines, but the body still seems to be vulnerable to injury, sickness, aging, and other influences.

When an athlete begins to grasp the Science of God and the spiritual laws that are governing all being, including the body, then he/she finds that this fear gives way to spiritual understanding. In fact, Science and Health declares: “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action” (p. 393). But we might ask, “How?”

Divine Science starts with the biblical fact that God, Spirit, is All-in-all. This means all substance, all action, and all power derive from God. He is also divine Mind and constitutes all consciousness. Working out from this premise, we can then understand that Mind expresses Himself through His ideas, His creation. In this Science, man is a generic term for God’s expression, His child, His conscious knowing of Himself. So man is spiritual, not material. Man, as God’s idea, embodies all of divine Mind’s perfect, whole, indestructible thoughts. This truth, understood, exempts each of us from injury, disease, or bodily deficiency. 

Every time a material limitation is overcome, we are honoring God. 

It’s radical, yes. But when we get even a glimpse of Science, we start learning that we have dominion over the body. We begin to lose fear of the body breaking down and being unable to perform. We learn “to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8). As Mrs. Eddy writes, “Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual” (Science and Health, p. 427).

The athlete has many opportunities to prove that this is not mere theory; it’s a demonstrable, scientific fact. A friend used her knowledge of divine Science when her hand cramped, locked up, and became rigid when she was rowing in an important regatta. She said there was nothing else to do but trust God, Spirit, and turn to the spiritual facts she knew about herself as His idea, which she had begun learning in the Christian Science Sunday School. 

She immediately declared that God was all presence and all substance. As Mind’s idea, His image, she could reflect only His power, control, and agility. She affirmed the allness of God and denied any reliance on a material body. Within a few moments, the hand resumed its natural flexibility, and she was able to finish the race without any further pain or disability.

Understanding the omniaction of God, divine Mind, heals pressures in training and gives freedom to preparation. Motivation, staying focused, dealing with the pressures of competing and fear of failure, are all part of the mental challenge athletes face. Divine Science, acknowledging Mind as the source of all consciousness, helps elevate our thoughts about each of these mental components.

Motives: For example, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action” (Science and Health, p. 454). Freedom of action is certainly a desired goal for any athlete. As we pray during training and competing, our motives become less about winning and more about glorifying God, as Christ Jesus instructed. He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

If an athlete does something amazing and recognizes that the source of the ability is God, then God is glorified. Excellence in overcoming material limitations demonstrates infinite, unlimited Spirit and reveals the spiritual capabilities of man, which may appear humanly amazing. God’s attributes are expressed in the beauty, strength, endurance, agility, and quick thinking of the athlete. Every time a material limitation is overcome, we are honoring God. St. Paul instructed, “Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:20).

Preparation: Every athlete knows that preparation is key for competing successfully. To prepare spiritually by turning one’s thoughts to God before the event is a necessary “spiritual routine.” A Christian Scientist who was an Olympic track and field contender told me that when she was in college, the field was surrounded by mountains. It became part of her routine, before the event, to turn away from all the distractions and look to those mountains, which reminded her of the almighty nature of God. While she was practicing, she would acknowledge the presence of God, good, and let herself feel the calm and embracing love of God. To know that God, Mind, is as close as your hand—enveloping, guiding, and directing you—gives spiritual composure, self-control, and joy. The Bible declares, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way” (Psalms 37:23).

Relief from pressure: Divine Science takes the pressure off the athlete by revealing that man is not the originator of strength and ability, but the reflection of God, who is all power. This concept of reflection is not always readily understood, but when the athlete begins to get even a glimpse that God is the source of all action, power, and intelligence, personal pressure is relieved. Jesus was aware of this scientific fact: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). Or as Paul put it, “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

A top-ranked National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athlete told me that she had a major breakthrough when she made a big sign for her bedroom that said, “You are approved of by God.” The sign affirmed that God, her Father-Mother and only judge, approved of her when He created her. Her conviction of this fact and that God had always loved her freed her from paralyzing fear and overwhelming stress about pleasing her coaches, her recruiters, her parents, and her teammates. She trusted this passage from the Bible: “I was daily his delight” (Proverbs 8:30). It was after taking this spiritual stand that her national ranking started to soar.

Focus: To stay focused during competition, it’s incredibly helpful to understand that because man reflects the intelligence and focus of divine Mind, there can be no lapse, distraction, or absence of focus. This passage from the Bible explains: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

Understanding the omnipotence of God as Love heals animosity in competition. The word compete comes from the Latin derivative competere which means to “strive together as a unit.” This is the opposite of the modern-day version of teams and individuals fighting, often bitterly, against each other.

The Beatitudes taught by Jesus (see Matthew 5:1–12) emphasize meekness, humility, and peace, which give us quiet confidence when we are the one sitting on the bench or facing a loss. They also give us the grace needed when we win. They do not emasculate. They strengthen.

Understanding the omnipotence of God as Love heals animosity in competition. 

As parents of a competitor, we learned through our study of divine Science that we needed to pray for the whole athletic event. We needed to affirm that God’s excellence was being expressed by all of His ideas, and we could be grateful to be “his witnesses” (Acts 5:32) of that spiritual fact. The better an opponent played, the more of a challenge it was for our daughter, and the greater her learning experience. Often parents of the opposing player would comment after the match that they had never seen their daughter play so well. And that was a good thing.

Divine Science heals issues of animosity toward other players, which can include intimidation, bullying, tempers flying, trash talk, and other mind games. The carnal mind, with its selfish motives and inflated ego, would try to throw a competitor off balance, both physically and emotionally. It is the healing Christ, Truth, that breaks through the adversity by revealing to consciousness the allness of Love and the true idea of man as Love’s reflection.

When our daughter was about 11 years old, she was scheduled to play in the finals of a national tournament and became very ill with a high fever. She wanted to go ahead and compete, so we called a Christian Science practitioner to support her healing. Later, she wrote about the experience: “I was playing a girl whom I thought I hated and who hated me. Her mom was known for being vicious, and everyone agreed that matches against this girl were always uncomfortable. When I got to the tournament site, I felt completely miserable and afraid. I decided I needed to think about only one thought: ‘Perfect love casteth out fear’ (I John 4:18).

“Knowing that God is Love and the only power, I decided to let myself feel God’s love for literally everyone and everything I saw—trees, people, animals, all of it. I said out loud to myself, “I love _______ and filled in the blank with whatever my eyes were seeing. Sometimes it felt like I didn’t mean it, but I declared it anyway. 

“After a while, I felt as though loving had become habitual. By the time I looked at my opponent, the response, ‘I love this person’ was automatic. Because I was doing it to everything and not choosing who or what to love, but trying to love all, it became easier to love everything that my eyes rested on, even my opponent. I felt a sense of burden and fear begin to lift. 

“I remember absolutely nothing else from the match except feeling like I was able to love everything, feel God’s love everywhere, and was playing the best, most peaceful, most frustration-free match I had ever played. The fever went away. 

“After the match, which I won, I found these two statements, which I continue to use: ‘The mental arrow shot from another’s bow is practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it’ (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 223–224). And, ‘It is wise to be willing to wait on God, and to be wiser than serpents; to hate no man, to love one’s enemies, and to square accounts with each passing hour’ (Mary Baker Eddy, Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 17).”

There are truly countless ways Christian Science is practical on the trail, field, court, rink, track, in the pool, or gym. Knowing herself or himself as Mind’s model of perfection, the athlete can expect to feel an inspired sense of joy, fulfillment, and peace. God’s laws understood and practiced will bring forth the biblical promise “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:6).