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‘Let there be light’
I’d forgotten about the planned power outage in our neighborhood, and with lights and television on, dropped off to sleep watching a not-too-interesting program. I was suddenly awakened by everything turning off. Opening my eyes made no difference—I could not see anything. There was no streetlight, moonlight, nothing. I was so disoriented that for a few moments I didn’t know where I was.
Finally figuring it out, I made my way to the stairs, where I kept a small flashlight. I flipped it on and a tiny shaft of light lit up the room. That tiny light made such a difference in the dark! It reminded me of something Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing” (p. 449). This echoes Christ Jesus’ promise to his disciples, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). A grain—that’s not much! Just a little bit of spiritual understanding can heal; just a little bit of light dispels the darkness, whether it’s in a room or in our thought. To let Truth lighten up our thought is to realize we are always in the presence of God.
Recently I experienced a quick healing by praying to become more receptive to the light of Truth. A pain in my knee was giving me trouble, and after a few days I’d had enough. Plunking myself down on the couch, I picked up a few copies of The Christian Science Journal and Sentinel, and said out loud, “I’m going to sit here and read and pray. I’m not going to get up until I feel God’s presence. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, all-powerful and ever present.” Persisting in prayer would, I knew, reveal more of my relationship to God. As I read, I thought about how just a little bit of spiritual inspiration, a glimpse of divine perfection, is enough to dispel any darkness in my thought—any notion that I could be separated from God and therefore be imperfect or in pain. I also thought about this statement by Mary Baker Eddy: “The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation” (Science and Health, p. xi).
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