Article October 6, 1997 Issue

What's your self-image?

Cynthia N. Beavers

When you picture yourself, what do you see? Well, the book of Genesis states that God created man in His image. God, Spirit, is the perfect creator, and His creation must reflect His perfection and nature. Therefore, God's image and likeness, the real man, is the ideal you, the perfect model.

The nature of God is powerful, active, peaceful, joyous, and loving. These and other spiritual qualities, which man reflects, are what we can behold in ourselves. In the Bible we read, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs" (Rom. 8:16, 17). By accepting our inheritance of God's nature, we are able to maintain an active, healthy life wherever we are.

In my work as a Christian Science nurse, I find it necessary to hold to the perfect model constantly. This enables me to enter a patient's room joyously and to expect good. I know that I must see everyone as the likeness of God so that I am not pulled into believing in a very different and imperfect model—the picture of a material body with a disease or injury.

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