What we see and hear and who we are with are less important than what we think, feel, and do.

Here are my 2013 Association Assignment answers. Working on these assignments is always fun. It makes me think hard about why I love Christian Science so much.

1. In writing down some of my thoughts about the citations you gave us, I love this quote from “Science, Theology, Medicine”: “Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas” (S&H 123:12). I may be saying the same thing as the quote here, but in thinking about the absolute and relative … Let’s say a person has a disease. Practically it would be the right thing to say that he has the disease, but it is possible to change the relative, so an hour later, because of his prayer, he could be healed physically. This is a very new thought for me because it is very easy to start fearing the relative, thinking that it is the absolute.

Along the same ideas, when I was praying it came to me that sooner or later, what you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and who you are with will become much less real and important than what you think and feel and what you do. As a Christian Scientist, I feel like I am starting to put everything in a little better perspective. If I can have even a little choice over what I think and feel then that gives me a lot of freedom.

2. One example of how a deeper understanding of Christian Science is having an effect on my life is from this passage from “The Great Revelation”: “Science defines man as immortal, as coexistent and coeternal with God, as made in His own image and likeness; material sense defines life as something apart from God, beginning and ending, and man as very far from the divine likeness” (Ret. 59:20–60:2). 

Many times, when I do something for the first time, I become anxious and fearful that I will make a mistake, even if it’s a very small thing. At my job, I was working on a new study for the first time. Later that night, I kept going over in my head what I did wrong and kept getting upset at myself. It was like a mental cloud had set over me and I was unable to escape. 

I finally got to the point where I was so tired of worrying about this very small, little thing that I turned to God and thought to myself, “Enough is enough. I may never understand how I can do better in any particular circumstance, but I can always turn to You. God is right here with me.” I remember thinking about God and feeling loved, even in a small way, and realizing I was not alone. I was “coexistent and coeternal with God.” This realization let me go to sleep. I learned something new that night—that fear of any kind may seem so real and tangible, but if you can just let your thought escape for a brief moment to focus on God, it has the ability to break the mesmerism or hypnotism that you have seemingly put yourself into, and you can be free. This change allows you to start having infinite possibilities with yourself in God.

3. All of our prayer and healing can have a vital connection to our Church and our Cause. “The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility…” (S&H 583:14–15). Because a correct understanding about God and man is so radical in this world, it is so important to have an institution that can, among other things, help protect our religious freedom, document all the healings, and educate humans about their relationship with God—how we are and always were spiritual. If we only think about Christian Science once in a while or have “quick bits of inspiration” here and there and are not healing (the proof of Christian Science), then the need for our Church and Cause seems to start fading. But once you start spending time understanding the “Science of being” (S&H 518:4) and start having instantaneous healings, the need and support for the Church and our Cause will be natural.