It's never too late to learn

By Fay Kallos Fahs

A rapidly changing world calls on people to make some leap forward—learn a new language, acquire additional job skills, master a new software program, unravel the latest tax rules. There's a kind of education, though, that doesn't depend on schooling or the particular resources that are available. And that's spiritual education.

Without any conscious effort on my part, I devised my own adaptation of Gregg shorthand.

A primary point in spiritual education is understanding the nature of God. Commenting on this understanding, Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this magazine, wrote: "This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light" (Science and Health, p. 505).

God is unlimited good, all-knowing Mind. This Mind is unlimited intelligence and wisdom. All men, women, and children express Mind. The intelligence we reflect from God does not depend on a brain, or heredity, or environment, or schooling. Intelligence is inherent in each of us. We all have the capacity to express God-given talents.

As we seize the opportunity to find God's spiritual riches, we're able to make progress, although not necessarily in a preconceived or in-the-box way.

This understanding was very helpful to me in my first job. I'd majored in French in college, and after graduation got a job as a bilingual secretary. I'd learned shorthand in high school, but I soon found that using Gregg shorthand, which is based on English pronunciation, was awkward and difficult when I tried to take dictation in French. I needed some way of taking notes in French more quickly—if I wanted to keep my job.

I prayed to God for direction. I firmly expected God to show me what I needed to know. Gradually, without any conscious effort on my part to sit down and figure out a system, I devised my own adaptation of Gregg shorthand. I began to add extra little marks for French verb endings and accents. My system simply evolved as needed, without struggle or brainstorming. I was happy I could perform my job more efficiently.

Months later, some new people were hired who'd gone to school specifically to learn how to be English-French secretaries. They showed me the way they'd been taught to take dictation in French. The system they'd learned was based on Gregg shorthand. And it correlated very closely with my own. The inspiration I'd received from God obviously had sound wisdom behind it. Nothing is too difficult for us with God's help.

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