What? Love me for my Christian Science?

Marci Elyse Williams

During my junior year in high school, I found myself very much attracted to a boy in college. What was even more special, he was attracted to me! I felt particularly flattered by his attentions, for he was someone I really respected: bright, sensitive, and talented. I also enjoyed considering what it was about me that had caught his interest.

When I mentioned this to my grandmother one day, she smiled and said, "He loves your Christian Science." My Christian Science? As a teen-ager who had been raised in Science and not exposed to many alternative points of view, I tended to play down its importance in my life. I relied on it when I needed relief from ailments, but I wanted to feel that my sense of individuality and the way I managed my life were somehow apart from Christian Science.

I was really irritated to think that my religion was what made me attractive, and I immediately began to think of reasons that my boyfriend should like me for myself. But if I had done some serious thinking, I'd have seen how much my sense of self had to do with the spiritual truths I'd learned in Christian Science Sunday School. In fact, had I pondered more those truths of God and of man's nature as His reflection, I might have discovered much more about who I was and what I could do.

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