Article July 25, 1994 Issue

Getting away from our "own poor thoughts"

Terri Higgins Murdock

In the closing chapter, "Fruitage," in Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy includes one hundred pages of testimonies from those healed by relying solely on God. In one account titled "Born Again," a woman first tells of years of suffering and ill health and then of her healing, which began when someone gave her a copy of Science and Health (see pp. 667–669). She writes, "Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I opened the 'little book' and began to read."

How often we all need to get away from our "own poor thoughts"! Sometimes, if we aren't careful, we accept any thought that pops up as ours, and as legitimate. But the Bible encourages us to take charge of what goes on in our consciousness. Christ Jesus says, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:27, 28). Jesus makes clear that the quality of our thoughts—however unbidden they are—is as important as our actions.

Some thoughts are blatantly wrong. Most of us would never be tempted to steal or kill. But how do we deal with old prejudices, animosities, limited thoughts or expectations for ourselves or others? A thorough weeding of the whole garden of our thinking uproots even cherished beliefs that do not conform with what our loving Father-Mother is showing us of His spiritual image, or reflection, man. Understanding his responsibility to keep his mental environment pure, the Psalmist wrote, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23, 24). Learning to exercise the mental purity that expresses God's control is a vital part of our spiritual progress.

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