Shine! With "borrowed light"
Whatever the situation we find ourselves in, we can immediately turn to God and shine with His intelligent, healing light.
As I stood in the lobby of our Paris hotel, trying to figure out the location of the Wednesday evening Christian Science church service, I was ready to give up. The desk clerk handed me a street guide, but the streets weren't listed alphabetically in her book, and I didn't have a working knowledge of the city districts or the transportation system.
I took the book up to our room and prayed about what to do next. Opening the street guide after a few moments of complete silence, I no longer felt frantic. I found the street. In the lobby two gentlemen from the hotel, heading to the subway, offered to walk my daughter and me there, and a patient English-speaking subway attendant explained the transfers. We got to church in time to hear most of the readings.
This was a small incident, but it illustrates an important truth in Christian Science. When we are in need, we can go straight to God in prayer. When I did this, I felt His presence there in the room with me. I asked for answers. What was the most intelligent thing for me to do? Was getting to church a legitimate need? It appeared to be, and I knew that God, divine Love, does meet our needs when we turn to Him understandingly. The result of the prayer was that spiritual intuition helped me find the street out of hundreds of possibilities.
Christian Science shows the necessity of getting beyond a limited concept of possibilities or opportunities by affirming God to be infinite, the one Mind. When I am stumped, I declare Him to be my Mind and affirm His true guidance and spiritual light to show me the truth. Then I try to be obedient, following Mind's spiritual intuitions and leadings. In the case of the subway ride, the answers to find the church came each step of the way. This gave me a hint of the infinitude of Mind and illustrates the spiritual guidance and insight that communion with God brings.
Explaining some of the foundational ideas of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Man shines by borrowed light. He reflects God as his Mind, and this reflection is substance,— the substance of good." Retrospection and Introspection, p. 57 . Even though those around us don't seem to follow the practice of asking God for direction, we can affirm that in truth they too are the reflection or evidence of infinite Mind, not mortals with minds of their own. God's man manifests the goodness of God without interval or lapse. The experience of meeting four individuals in a row who could help us was not accidental; it was a modest demonstration of the fact that man is the intelligent manifestation of God, or Mind.
Christ Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12 . Jesus understood that his power, insight, and ability to heal came from God. This firm sense of Christ, his spiritual selfhood and sonship, was established through his understanding of man's oneness with the Father, God. He knew each individual shared this spiritual oneness as a son of God. And thus, by accepting Christ, the spiritual idea of sonship, each could express God's light in loving and healing power.
True prayer is not a petition to get something selfishly for ourselves but a desire to go forward and share this light—this truth of God and man—in our daily business. As things work out right from applying prayer to our daily affairs, it won't be magic or a bizarre coincidence. Prayer simply awakens us to the good that is already present for us. After all, Jesus assured us that God knows all our needs before we ask Him for answers and commended trust and faith that the Father would always meet our needs.
Christian Science helps us see more clearly that God's man already reflects God's light, wisdom, and understanding. This means that our intelligence and ability are not dependent on our brain and can never be deficient, obscured, or lacking in judgment. This understanding can be very helpful in our careers.
True prayer is not a petition to get something for ourselves but to share in God's light.
After graduating from college, I worked briefly outside of my major field, which was art education. When I decided to get a teaching job in my field, I remembered that seven months earlier I had seen an advertisement on our university placement bulletin board. I prayed and felt a clear call to apply for that job. I pulled up stakes, boarded a train to another city, and getting off the train, carried my suitcase up the flight of stairs to the Board of Education. I asked the surprised secretary if the job was still open.
The administrator was curious as to how I knew the job was still open, even though they hadn't advertised for a few months. The position was mine that afternoon, as well as a place to live. Through the whole experience I felt divine Mind leading me, wholly directing my life and placement.
Obviously, this move wasn't just a capricious whim or act of human will on my part. Prayer awakened my spiritual intuition as to what was right to do. Experiences like this have taught me the all-knowing Mind imparts the goodness, wisdom, and intuition we need at any particular time. The desire to do right and to be honest is the prayer that demonstrates good. But we cannot force infinite Mind to fit our little mortal plans and designs. We must conform to and borrow divine light. The divine Mind does not fit inside mortal, limited, wishful thinking.
Jesus warned against hiding this Christ light or deliberately ignoring it: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light." Luke 11:33, 34 .
Stuck in the dark? Shine with "borrowed light"! This light isn't far away; it is already present within us as God's reflection, and we need only recognize and accept it. Reflecting God, we are the light of the world and mirror the Christ-image. Shining with the reflected glory of God, we fulfill our life purpose in conformity with God's will.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light. ... Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.
Isaiah 60:20–22
