Article December 10, 1938 Issue

Nursing

LILLIE M. VAN DUZEE

One of the most holy and inspiring fields of labor in the Christian Science movement is that of nursing. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 367), "The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love." The Christian Science nurse, as well as the practitioner, is called upon to exercise "pitiful patience" with the fears of an invalid and to remove them with tender words and Christian encouragement and with the inward conviction that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (ibid., p. 468).

A gardener who has had a lovely, tender plant placed in his care prepares the ground thoroughly, carefully digging it and casting out all stones and hard clods of earth to make it ready for the precious plant. How tenderly he then cares for it, nursing and nourishing it, watering it carefully and protecting it from accident until it is firmly rooted and sturdy enough through development and growth to withstand the elements!

As the gardener loves and tends his plant, so the wise and loving nurse plays her part in planting seeds of Truth in the consciousness of those placed under her care, those who have come under the mesmerism of some false belief that has hidden from them, for a time, the God-given dominion bestowed upon man, according to the first chapter of Genesis. In conversation with the one in need of healing, the nurse must gently and patiently help to remove fear, self-pity, ignorance, worry, and anxiety, and sow the seeds of hope, faith, confidence, and absolute reliance upon the Word of God as taught in Christian Science. In Christian Science healing these seeds are carefully nurtured by prayerful metaphysical work, both audible and silent, and the weeds of doubt, impatience, discouragement, and also the temptation to watch the body for symptoms, good or bad, are lovingly and persistently denied and cast out, until finally the glorious truth shines forth in the consciousness of the one who is being healed, and he feels and knows that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Sometimes quickly, sometimes more slowly, the physical senses are forced to "give up their false testimony" (Science and Health, p. 192), until the healing work is completed.

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