The old courthouse square in our town used to have a raised concrete strip bordering its lawn, and men gathered there to sit in the shade and talk. Many of these men were derelicts. They had accepted defeat and were either drifting aimlessly or had already run aground. Based on the common belief that winning is achieving more or better material goals, their individual scoreboards declared that someone else had won. And the hopelessness that tugged at their shoulders and peeped from their downcast eyes said that here were the losers.

No matter how wise, virtuous, and prudent we are, all of us at some time or other appear to suffer losses. But these losses need not mean defeat. As the biblical story of Job illustrates, some people see loss and failure as God-sent and therefore unavoidable, or they believe that losses are brought on by sin, either their own or someone else's. Still others think losing or winning depends on luck: either you have it or you don't. Perhaps some of those defeated men at the courthouse square held this latter view.

But there is still another view of loss, the view Christ Jesus expressed when he referred to a bowed, crippled woman whom he had just healed as one "whom Satan hath bound." ^{Luke 13:16;} What light is thrown on this healing by another saying of his, when he called Satan "a liar, and the father of it." ^{John 8:44;} That which would bind mankind, bowing and crippling their bodies and stripping them of what they hold dear in life, is an impostor.

In her discovery of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy learned, and scientifically proved, that no matter how Satan, or evil, masquerades, it has no real power but is sure to be exposed as powerless by Truth. Her authority for this view she found in the Bible, in the lives and teachings of Christ Jesus and the Old Testament prophets. For the Bible shows that God, good, is all-powerful; that there is only one God, or power, who fills all space; that God is Spirit and has made man as His own child, or expression.

This truth is the basis of Christian Science and the basis upon which students of this Science practice it, healing themselves and others of all kinds of loss and trouble. They learn from their study of the Bible, and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy that an unhappy experience is the result of one's thought and that the picture will improve when one's thinking does. So in order to find freedom, as did the crippled woman Jesus healed, one must open his thought to the healing power of spiritual truth and refuse to be deceived by the material lie. Instead of folding up mentally and accepting defeat, one can let God's spiritual ideas unfold in thought and in this way find joy and wholeness.

In Miscellaneous Writings Mrs. Eddy says: "Do human hopes deceive? is joy a trembler? Then, weary pilgrim, unloose the latchet of thy sandals; for the place whereon thou standest is sacred. By that, you may know you are parting with a material sense of life and happiness to win the spiritual sense of good. O learn to lose with God! and you find Life eternal: you gain all." ^{Mis., p. 341;} Mrs. Eddy spoke from experience about this sacred place. After being widowed she was separated from her only child as a result of ill health and financial difficulties. Some years later she was seriously injured in an accident. Calling for her Bible, she read in Matthew how Jesus had healed a man of palsy. Later she wrote, "As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed." ^{ibid., p. 24;}

Mrs. Eddy's healing marked a great turning point, not only in her own life but for the world. This sacred place of loss was the avenue through which she discovered Christian Science. Many years later she was described by the editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine as "the extraordinary woman who, nearly eighty-seven years of age, plays so great a part in the world and leads with such conspicuous success her very great following." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 272;} Some months afterward Mrs. Eddy began working to establish The Christian Science Monitor, a daily newspaper that has since become internationally known and respected. Imagine the loss to all mankind had she accepted her own early losses as defeat!

Christ Jesus established an all-time criterion for winning and losing when he rebuked Peter, who had urged him to save himself from the ordeal of the cross. Jesus said: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" ^{Matt. 16:25,26;} What, indeed, shall we give, or lose, in exchange for our soul, our spiritual sense of God—of Life and Truth?

I found an answer to this question after the loss of my husband and several other members of my family. To overcome grief I found I must give up my sense of man as a physical person. By seeking a spiritual view of myself and everyone, including these loved ones, as eternal expressions of God, I found peace and new, happy relationships. Also, my better understanding of God's indestructible goodness led to a broader, fuller experience. In turning to God as my protector and the source of all good, I turned away from heavy reliance on money. Reasoning that as God's image I reflected all His qualities, and really understanding this truth, I was able to continue in my husband's business successfully.

Popular theology teaches that suffering and sacrifice of good are requisite for spiritual achievement, for salvation and redemption. Not so did Jesus. He said: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?...But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," ^{6:31,33 .} thus establishing priorities. "These things" are not the real issue nor prize. It's right for us to have them, but they are not an end in or of themselves. When an understanding of the goodness and allness of God, or Spirit, becomes our goal, we realize that we have won the true prize—His spiritual ideas—and that they can never be lost. They are held forever in God, as a part of His allness.

So what should we do when we seem to encounter loss of what we humanly hold dear? Certainly we should not view this loss as defeat. Instead we can turn to God, our loving Father, and replace the false, material sense of life and substance with the consciousness of ever-present Spirit, confidently knowing that all the good God has is eternally ours as His expression. This is how we can pray scientifically, lifting our view from matter to Spirit, gaining assurance of God's omnipresence and love. This is how we can lose belief in and fear of evil's reality and power.

As we allow spiritual ideas to fill our consciousness, our experience will improve, and our joy will no longer be insecure. Instead it will rest on the firm ground of the Science of Christianity. This is losing with God, losing or giving up belief in what is not real and gaining all—infinite spiritual good and Life eternal. This is awakening to the glorious fact that there are no losers!