When I told a Christian Science practitioner I had a headache, she assured me it wasn't of God and I could be free by accepting the truth of being. She declared that divine Spirit made all, that God didn't make anything harmful, and that I was in reality His perfect image.

For the next half hour she continued to explain the truth of God and man. She said that since man is spiritual, he is governed only by divine Spirit; and that evil is unreal, having no life or intelligence.

Before leaving, I asked her to pray for me. But to make sure that she was fully aware of my suffering, I told her exactly where my head hurt and described the pain in detail. Tenderly she replied, "You haven't heard a word I've said!"

After recovering from my embarrassment, I realized she was right. Instead of accepting what she was telling me, I was still thinking of myself as a physical mortal separated from God. I wanted her words to heal me, but I was leaving it to her to understand those words. I could investigate their meaning later at a more convenient time—after the healing. Her last statement shocked me out of this apathetic attitude.

Then I began to think deeply about what the practitioner had said. As I did, I found a brand-new premise from which to reason. The view of existence as material slowly yielded to the idea of Spirit's infinitude. It dawned on me that the practitioner was not trying to heal a sick mortal. She was praying to see me as I really exist—spiritual and perfect—and was sharing this understanding to help awaken me to spiritual reality and my freedom as God's beloved child. When I perceived and consented to the truth her words expressed, I was healed.

Accepting Science requires a willingness to reason from the standpoint of perfect, spiritual being. It demands that we learn more of God. Reading or talking about spiritual truth, however, may give only a momentary lift to thought. We must actually embrace divine reality as the only reality, as the truth of being, if we are to destroy the matter-based thinking that produces disease and discord. Only by wholeheartedly accepting the fact that God, good, is the only Life and power can we heal. Reading or listening to the letter of Science is productive only in proportion as we credit Truth and reject error. "Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence," ^{Science and Health, p. 249;} our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, counsels.

Little children often have quick healings because they readily accept the truth. It is not unusual for a child to stop believing he is sick when he is told that God made him perfect. Too often the adult seeking healing allows years of false education to get in the way. Instead of accepting his status as perfect, spiritual man, he may become sidetracked by speculating about the symptoms of the disease, wondering what its name is, or hunting for a cause. He may even try to justify his plight by complaining that it's very easy to accept matter as real. Yet the adult can be receptive, too, abandoning false, material evidence and yielding to spiritual sense.

One test of our acceptance of truth is our joy. Finding out that good is real and evil is unreal is a happy thing. If we truly believe that divine Love is with us, our heart sings. We can't be burdened. The evidence of the physical senses, depicting man as material and imperfect, no longer moves us, for our consciousness of spiritual harmony exposes their pictures as false.

Christ Jesus' complete acceptance of truth enabled him to see the perfect man and heal multitudes. But many who came to the Master for healing must have been much like me—wanting the benefits of another's exalted understanding but not wanting to give up their material beliefs. The record tells us that after Jesus declared, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life," many followers "went back, and walked no more with him." Then Jesus asked the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" Peter, having glimpsed the spiritual import of Jesus' healings, immediately replied: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." ^{John 6:63, 66-69.}

Examining ourselves, we can determine if we, like Peter, are truly following Christ and choosing the spiritual as the real. We can ask ourselves whether we really want to stop depending on matter. Whether we actually long to know God better. Whether we truly want to express more humility, love, patience, compassion, purity. Whether we are eager to part with pride, resentment, impurity. If we can honestly answer yes to these questions, then our prayers denying the illusions of lack and sin, and acknowledging the good that belongs to us now as God's flawless idea, won't bog down in mere wordplay or blind faith. They will invoke the power of Christ, inspiring and healing us.

Man is not a mortal who sometimes accepts divine Truth and sometimes doesn't. He is immortal, the very expression of Truth. He forever includes joy, spiritual conviction, peace. He knows that God is All-in-all. His consciousness is the reflection of Mind and therefore includes no doubt, ignorance, or fear. He is God's own pure image, eternally complete.

"You haven't heard a word I've said" was the most helpful thing the practitioner could have told me. It awakened me as a new student of Christian Science to the fact that words alone don't heal, that Christian healing isn't a trick one pulls out of a hat. It helped me see that healing results from the perception and acceptance of truth, from the revelation of God's law in human consciousness.