Not “too metaphysical” for my friend’s little dog
/Question 1: Share a physical healing or healings in which reading one or more of Skip’s articles played an important part in your own spiritual study and prayer and ultimate healing.
One recurring theme in Skip’s writings is the need to engage in unselfing, to refrain from trying to demonstrate Christian Science from the basis of a mortal selfhood attempting to understand the Divine. In his article “Who knows enough to heal?” (Journal, May 1984), Skip addresses the title question: “The reason the question is so prevalent is that it’s the perennial question of a mind that believes it resides in matter….The thousand and one doubts [mortal mind] dreams up as to whether one knows enough to heal, all have their basis in the mistaken belief that one’s selfhood is an independent entity which lives and has its being in a matter world. This so-called ‘I’ or entity is inevitably unaware of what God is and what God is doing. It lives with its own very dim view of spiritual reality, and therefore it frequently doubts whether it knows enough to heal.”
This passage gave me a new understanding of how to “pray without ceasing.” After all, mortal mind never intends for anyone to actually “arrive”! If I truly want to get there, I must claim my current and permanent residence in the kingdom of heaven. Thought needs to stay on God no matter what, whether reading the Bible lesson, brushing my teeth, making dinner, or driving a car. This has been a major transformation for me. To the extent that spiritual sense is engaged toward God’s presence, the false evidence of a mortal not quite grasping the Divine has been eliminated. Healing has become more natural.
One small example of the effect of keeping spiritual sense focused on God occurred last summer during an extreme heatwave. A friend and I were chatting by video, when he told me that his little chihuahua dog was struggling with the heat. She had not eaten for more than a day, and her skin had become quite red and warm to the touch. She had been extremely restless, constantly moving around in great agitation and discomfort. Then he pointed his phone toward the dog. In my work as a Christian Science nurse, I had never seen such incessant movement before.
My friend is not a Christian Scientist and knows very little about it, so I thought we could start with some practical care, such as cooling his dog with a cold washcloth. Her red skin started to lighten to pink, but her agitated movement didn’t stop.
Then I asked him if he wanted me to pray for her. I assured him that he was free to take her to a vet if he preferred to do so, but he said he wanted me to pray. I talked to him about God as the little dog’s creator and the dog’s perfection. We discussed God’s love for the little dog, and how God had never desired any disease, discomfort, or distress for her. God was always protecting His little ones, so heat could not harm her. Then we ended our phone call. I continued treatment that night and during the morning.
When I called my friend the next day, he said his little dog was still very agitated. He had bought some more appetizing food for her, but that she had not touched it. Later in the morning he needed to do some errands. When he returned, he found that all the food he had left for his dog had been eaten. She had licked the bowl clean! Also, his dog had stopped her restless activity, and her skin was normal and cool to the touch. Now she was curled up and sleeping peacefully next to him. My friend was elated! We both gave thanks to God.
Although the hot weather continued, the symptoms did not recur. Since his dog was healed, my friend has attended some Christian Science services and has been touched by them!
In his article, “Infinite good—the dawning and the meridian” (Journal, October 2016), Skip explains, “Christian Science shows that despite the human, mortal mind’s stubborn imagining to the contrary, it is possible to know spiritual reality or what Christ Jesus called the kingdom of heaven. It’s not at all ‘too high,’ too metaphysical. In fact, it’s already here within us, as Jesus said.”