A purer desire, a relinquishment of self, an inner [divine] command to participate more in church (branch and TMC), serving in whatever capacity Mind points toward, has steadily opened a “readiness to will, so that there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.” – (II Cor. 8: 11) Here are a couple examples of recent fruitage from endeavoring to discern Christ, Truth anew… and also to live and walk in the Spirit:
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One day the eldest son of a member of our church, a CS nurse, came to our RR. He had just been fired from his job – unjustly so, he felt. Subsequently, he couldn’t afford the rent of his apartment and had to let it go. His physical health was not great. His discouragement grew worse, for in previous years he got caught up in the craze of seeking identity, pride and position through the culture of tattoos – he was covered with them.
So, now he had a “gang” look (though he said he wasn’t part of one) and was afraid no one would want to ever hire him again. “The job I lost was perfect. They trusted me. I did good!” Not long before all this, he had contemplated suicide, even made an attempt in an earlier similar predicament. Half-heartedly he’d tried to get into Science but it just didn’t connect for him.
I felt an innocence about the young man. He was earnest and honest. Though he appeared to be in a tough situation, he was open with me, trusting and sincerely seeking for help. While listening to his story I was also listening to divine Mind.
I asked him a simple question: When was the last time you felt free? – happy, unburdened by dilemma. It didn’t take him a moment. One day, just a couple weeks earlier, he and his younger brother rode bikes together down to the coastline. His face brightened, big smile. He said it was the most fun he’d had in ages. They had a blast...all day. In that minute I could see the weights were gone, his sullenness vanished. He was free right then. Just telling me about it.
Seeing this I said, Okay! Here’s the idea: Don’t Get Off The Bike!
For a second he looked puzzled. I explained, Stay on the bike, man! Don’t get off that wave-length of joy, freedom, innocence and hope, – which quite clearly gave him a sense of renewed strength. Strength and liberation within the goodness he experienced: the love and gratitude for the beautiful day, being with his brother, expressing vitality and life! – not saddled with all the woes of the (supposed) grim realities, but being revitalized and conscious of his true nature.
That IS your true nature, I said! Stay there. Don’t come back down to frustration and failure. (What I was trying to convey was similar to Mrs. Eddy said to Joseph Mann after his amazing healing – “go not back into the house,” i.e., don’t return to the mainstreams of mortal presumption).
For a moment, he began to sink, but then he grabbed it – the spiritual idea of perpetual goodness, joy, worthiness, ability, faith. That’s the bike, the vehicle, the thought we hold to – always. Hymn 148 says it all: “Nothing changes here.” God has made you perfect. Express that perfection under all circumstances. Never get off the bike! Just then there was confidence. He saw it. Freedom. He saw the Truth. He grasped it right then and there. And that was the healing.
He’s never relinquished that true sense – his true image and likeness! He’d never really lost it in the first place. In our brief but delightful visit, he realized, instantly, he could trust that divine concept and put it to work in meeting every adverse situation as its innocent and confident and joyous master. He was discovering in that moment that his forward-thinking, true nature and being had nothing to do with what had gone before. His prospects for life did not come from material history but were entirely based on spiritual development.
Since then, I’m told he studies regularly the SH and the weekly Bible lesson. He does it every day. He’s got a new job. He prays. He’s moving into his own place. Life is better than ever. He’s grateful and truly content. His Mom is understandably tranquil and peaceful with joy and gratitude.
He occasionally makes it over to our church for a service or a chat. But he’s never gotten off the bike. He knows that ride will go on forever!
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A young man took a fall while on a skiing trip. He was taken to a doctor. X-rays showed his collarbone was broken. They suggested six to eight weeks minimum were required for recovery. His parents felt a second opinion might be needed. A specialist took x-rays and confirmed a broken collarbone and forecast at least ten weeks before he could do anything painlessly with his upper body.
The young man’s mother was a student of C.S. She worried that he wouldn’t be receptive to her treatment and called for help. She warned me that he’d grown resistant to regularly studying Science and talking with practitioners was not “his thing.” She also told me he was a baseball player. It was something he absolutely loved to do. Part of the sadness gripping the young man and his parents was that he was in the final semester of his senior year, the season was beginning soon and this would probably be the last chance he had to play competitively the game he loved. Opening Day was scheduled five days out from the initial call to the practitioner.
A message came to me as to how to begin, how to break the ice: Well, anything I’m getting that’s good or helpful or effective is coming from God. So, I don’t need to get caught up in the resistance to C.S. murmurs or others’ opinions. I decided to text the boy.
Note: Lots of texting going on these days in my practice – conveying spiritual ideas by way of this provision. When, at first, I was approached via text for practitioner help, healing ideas and general communiqués I didn’t think texting would cut it. But, I didn’t allow that to negate a potential avenue for God to be the communicator! I’ve found ways, along with daily phone visits, for texting to be an effective reminder of thoughts we’ve gone over that the patient appreciates and can immediately put to use. So, for me, I’ve found a way to utilize it.
The young man responded right away to my introducing myself via text and we got on the phone and got on with the work beautifully. We started by knowing man is spiritual, dismissing the idea of accident, overriding physique or physical/corporeal sense as a reliable measure of health, and (most vitally) we discussed not evaluating our progress by way of how the body was responding to treatment! The true measure is how we’re thinking! How are we mentally progressing to understand our freedom from anything that could oppose the man of God’s making?
MBE states clearly: “Observe mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for development enter thought. Think less of material conditions and more of spiritual.” – (SH 419: 16)
Now, this is where it gets interesting. This guy was so obedient and receptive to the Truth that it kept reminding me of the story of Jesus and the centurion. He conveyed a trust, an unwavering faith, a conviction so youthfully pure that when we discussed a line from the textbook (like the soldier or the servant under authority) he would just do it. We could trust divine Mind to perform the necessary adjustments (mental surgery) in order to discern his true freedom. Soon he texted me that he slept perfectly, with no pain.
Well, the simple parlaying of a healing idea each day resulted in terrific progress. Day after day he naturally and effortlessly put the Science of the Christ to work. Just bang, bang, and there was immediate progress. It was beautiful to witness.
One thing we had to watch and hold in check was not to allow human will or untempered zeal to impress upon him prematurely for a longed-for return to the baseball field. He took the meat of the matter and ate it up. Dismissed any human eagerness to “get back out there.” He refused to allow human desire, time, game schedules or the melodramatic headline that this was the last chance he’d ever have to play organized baseball again. Ridiculous! We said. We’re not going to allow any of that to interrupt God’s unfolding of His plan and purpose.
My young patient just got it!
Like every other aspect of his wonderful receptivity, he simply obeyed that directive. Just as the centurion had assured Christ Jesus: “I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” – (Matt. 8: 9) I honestly felt what Jesus said in reply: “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
Now, for the results. Opening Day had been rained out. It was postponed for about a week. His team had a few away games before returning home. I worked for ten days with this impressive young guy. By the time we signed off he said he felt great, mentally free and was not about to outline any opportunity to return to his rightful place starting in right field (you see, he was already in his rightful field!). And that was it… for me. He continued along the lines of that first day’s spiritual directive: holding his thought in line (aligned with) unselfed love and being open to God’s directing of his hope and experience.
A week later his mother called to say he had started in his position on Opening Day, had two hits and stole a base! Two days after that, his team played the perennial state champions (a team they’d never beaten in the school’s history) and he knocked in three runs, had a triple and they won 12–7. What’s more is he was able to attend the prom that coming weekend and danced freely and merrily. On top of that he attended that week’s testimony meeting and shared his healing.
The mother also mentioned that two of her next-door neighbors (Christians of another denomination) were aware and praying in their own way about the situation and were mightily impressed when they heard the news and how apparently Christian Science prayer and healing actually works! They’d heard about it but never actually had a firsthand account of what’s possible.
But, hold on. There crept in a problem around this kind of fervor that was building and being expressed. I had not immediately identified it as a thing to be watchful (sober and vigilant) over once it began. When the news came in of this healing I certainly felt gratitude and a sense of wonder at divine Mind’s power to heal. However, I received a couple of calls from other people who had witnessed and heard of this healing and I began to feel a strange concern about the elation going on about it. Words like “amazing” and “incredible” seemed a bit much, especially coming from other CS’ers, and, honestly, I started to fear for the boy’s ability to maintain an impersonal sense of freedom from all the hubbub. The beliefs of the seeming severity of the injury I had dismissed from the outset were trying to gain entry into my thinking. I definitely had to handle concern about the belief of a chance of relapse or re-injury, even though I’d stopped working for him.
I called a friend, a colleague in the practice, and she mentioned what Christ Jesus had asked of those who had witnessed one of his healings “… he charged them that they should tell no man:…” (Mark 7:36). I realized other instances when MBE felt a momentary return of symptoms after people in her house reacted in disbelief that she was suddenly well.
I learned something more of the tendency of mortal “tear or triumph” attempting to harm or distort what simply was a natural occurrence, a return to normalcy, a healing. But the healing WAS complete. No reversals!! And the young man texted me just a few days ago to say how grateful he was for what he learned of the power of C.S. to reliably take care of every human need.
I’ll always fondly remember the young man I came to think of as “the young centurion.”
It was moving to read a letter from the mom of the baseball player healed of a broken collarbone. She wrote: “We...appreciate your patient, relatable metaphysics as this was his first time working with a practitioner by himself. It was truly a watershed moment that he will ponder and revisit throughout college and adulthood.”
Christian Science is something I feel so humbled by as new dimensions of its infinite capacities dawn almost daily in my heart and mind. “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.”