Article September 11, 1989 Issue

"And that's a fact!"

Appearances often deceive. But
what is real appears in our lives as we
come to know and trust in
the spiritual facts of existence.

Stephen Gottschalk

Years ago I knew someone who could hardly speak of anything he had thought or seen without adding, "And that's a fact." It could be irritating, and he was often kidded about it. But the last time I saw him he hadn't changed a bit.

Interestingly, we often punctuate our thoughts much the same way. Illness, our own or others'; hurt feelings and ruptured relationships; poverty; abrasive world conditions—all these settle down in our thought like so many vividly colored rocks in a brightly lighted collection. They seem so solid, so "there," that every time we think about them or add a new one to the collection, we virtually underscore the addition with "And that's a fact."

Even longtime students of Christian Science, when confronted by a situation that requires healing, may find themselves thinking of an illness or serious personal need as a fact that requires remedying and spiritual truths as the remedy we apply to that fact, much as we would apply a coat of fresh paint to a weathered fence.

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