Article October 9, 1989 Issue

Is it 70° in the kingdom of heaven?

In the kingdom of heaven, we bask in the warmth of Spirit!

Barbara-Jean Stinson

Have you ever looked outside on a lovely sunny day and wished that you could just go out and lie in the sunshine? I know I feel that way sometimes. A pleasant climate and bright sunshine seem almost synonymous with heavenly living. And it's hard to say whether it's more challenging to live in a climate that does not have much sunshine (and to constantly long for the sun) or to live where there is plenty of sun (and constantly have to resist its allure).

One time when I was rebelling over the need to stay indoors and do some specific study rather than go outside and enjoy the beautiful day, a few words from Science and Health nudged my thought: "... it has for you a light above the sun ...." What had a light for me above the sun? When I looked up Mrs. Eddy's full statement, I found: "To mortal sense Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow. When understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means, and it has for you a light above the sun, for God 'is the light thereof.'"^{Science and Health, p. 558.}

That was it. Divine Science itself should be the light that I treasured above all human pleasures. As I prayed, it became clear that as I did learn to put gaining an understanding of God first, He would enlighten my consciousness and show me the way of demonstrating His healing power. I saw that while there's nothing wrong in sitting outside in the sun, my love of being out in the sun had to take second place to my efforts to demonstrate a love of God, Spirit. And I knew that because God is good, I could not lose any good by seeking a life governed by God rather than a life dominated by personal pleasure.

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