I went back recently to visit an elementary school where I had taught many years ago. This school has a tradition that each pupil, before she or he graduates, designs an individual steppingstone. The design is then cut out in a block of wood. Concrete is poured onto the block, and when it dries, the stone is embedded in the school grounds for posterity.

I was impressed by the number of steppingstones that had been added in the central courtyard where the graduation ceremonies take place every year. It made me reflect on the steppingstones in my own life, the changes of career and relationships, the momentary questions of whether I had made the most of my opportunities. Probably most of us, in looking back, wonder if we have taken the right steps. Are there any sure steppingstones that can guide us through this swirl of fear and uncertainty that seems so characteristic of life?

Actually, as I looked back, a familiar and reassuring perspective came into view. The decisions made and the steps taken hadn't seemed to me to be personal decisions but they were the outcome of my turning to God as the source of all wisdom and intelligence and good. Prayer, coupled with study of the Scriptures, had helped me to draw closer to God and to feel surer about His direction.

Mrs. Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, founded her Church on the teachings of Christ Jesus, including the Master's emphasis on practical healing of sickness and sin. Christian Scientists think of themselves as students. They read and study the Bible daily, together with their denominational textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy.

On the first page of this textbook are these thought-provoking words: "Ignorance of God is no longer the steppingstone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal."

Just as I had seen young children in the schoolroom grasp the basics of reading, writing, and math, so I have seen young children and teenagers in the Christian Science Sunday School beginning to feel a special closeness to God as they get to know Him as their loving Father-Mother. They learn naturally to love God and to obey His commandments, and step by step they learn to rely on God for healing. They find that the rules of Christianity outlined by Christ Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are a practical help in their family and school life. They learn the Lord's Prayer and its spiritual meaning, which helps them to heal themselves and others.

These basic spiritual teachings can become steppingstones in anyone's life. They give direction and purpose to living and lead thought Spiritward. A deeper understanding of God and of man's relationship to Him heals.

Christ Jesus, as our Saviour, has marked out the way. The reality of God's loving presence and power was so palpable to Jesus that sin and sickness vanished before his expression of the Christ, the spiritual idea of God which heals. Jesus took mankind on a journey of discovery. He showed us that we are all in reality children of God, created by Him to express eternal Life.

As we understand the reality of our true spiritual identity, made in God's image and likeness and reflecting His intelligence, power, and freedom, we find a solid basis for spiritual progress and healing. The First Epistle of John states: "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life."

How can we become more aware of this gift of life and gain a fuller understanding of our sonship in God? Real childlike qualities—humility, trust, goodness, and love— when they are cherished and lived, lead us to a fuller demonstration of spirituality. Day by day, as we learn to be more directed by Christ, Truth—to love more universally, to express more generously to others the goodness of God—man's true selfhood as God's reflection becomes clearer to us.

There are no shortcuts to eternal life. But when we look beyond a selfish focus that centers only on one's own desires and interests, we begin to realize, through Christ, our present oneness with God. Then, leaving behind old, outgrown ways and modes of thought—self-doubt, procrastination, and apathy—we find spiritual purpose that leads us onward as healers.

The Master progressed, step by step, in his demonstration that his own life was the reflection of the Life that is God. He stayed firmly on the basic foundation of Life in and of God, Spirit. He was able to prove that obedience to God's law of life banishes the lie of death. Jesus brought Jairus's daughter back to life. He raised his friend Lazarus from the tomb. Even at the darkest hour of the crucifixion, Jesus did not swerve from his complete trust in God as the only Life. It was the Master's progressive yielding of human will to the Divine that enabled him to conquer death.

As we advance in the pathway of healing and practice that Jesus has outlined for humanity, radical reliance on God for healing becomes natural. Then we experience more of the joy, vitality, and love that bring us naturally into a fuller expression of spiritual life and its infinite possibilities.

Ann Kenrick