Article June 26, 1976 Issue

Home Is Where We Are

JULIA IRENE FITZGERALD

A woman who had just moved into a nursing home was asked, "Where is your home?" She thought for a moment and then replied, "My home is where I am!" She apparently realized that home is not just a material place, but a mental concept that we take with us wherever we go.

The teachings of Christian Science show us that our real home is not dependent on mortal relationships, nor is it a three-dimensional structure furnished with material possessions. It is a purely spiritual habitation, the consciousness of our oneness with infinite Mind, God. Home is the unfoldment within individual consciousness of the presence of God, man's divine Parent, who expresses unceasing love for His children. Mrs. Eddy explains, "The real house in which 'we live, and move, and have our being' is Spirit, God, the eternal harmony of infinite Soul."^{Pulpit and Press, p. 2;} Man, the perfect likeness of God, can never be separated from God, any more than an image in a mirror can be separated from its original. Man, who is God's image, dwells with Him and reflects Him forever. The Psalmist said, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."^{Ps. 90:1;}

The Bible doesn't record that our great Master and Exemplar, Christ Jesus, owned a specific material structure. Yet multitudes felt drawn to his gracious hospitality, comfort, and spiritual refreshment. Home was where he was. He once remarked, "The Son of man hath not where to lay his head."^{Matt. 8:20;} But he spoke of his "Father's house,"^{John 14:2;} indicating that he had a spiritual concept of home. The real, spiritual man, God's likeness, does not dwell in a material house, but in heaven, a divine state of consciousness.