Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
'You are God's rose'
When I was young and fairly new to Christian Science, I had a problem understanding Mary Baker Eddy’s description of man as “God’s spiritual idea” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 115). This concept felt too abstract to me. I prayed with it, mouthed the words as I read it over and over, but didn’t quite get it.
One morning I awoke with a terrible cold and was scheduled to visit with a friend, who lived a few hours away. I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. What she said has always stayed with me.
“Close your eyes,” she said. “Are they closed?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Now I want you to picture a beautiful long-stemmed, red rose. Can you see it?” she asked.
I told her I did. She asked me to picture a bud, just ready to burst into full bloom, with shiny dewdrop-covered green leaves. And then there were a few moments of silence.
“Can I run your rose over with my car?” she asked.
“No,” I replied.
“And why?” she quizzed further.
“Because it is in my thinking,” I answered.
“Can I make it wilt and die?” she asked.
I said, “No, because it’s an idea in my thought.”
A few more moments of silence followed and then she said quietly, “You are God’s rose.”
She explained that as God’s perfect, indestructible idea, I am what God is knowing, and, therefore, nothing can harm me or cause me to be ill.
Instantly, I got it. I felt bathed in a happy assurance that I was truly protected as God’s cherished idea. This new understanding washed over me and I could have leaped for joy! This concept of man as God’s idea, untouched by material conditions, was all I could think about and rejoice over. I was instantaneously healed and had no more suffering.
—Elizabeth A. Wiggins, Delray Beach, Florida, US