FROM THE EDITORS March 7, 2005 Issue

THE PRAYER OF EFFECTIVE SELF-CARE

"WHEN THE SCIENCE OF BEING is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea," wrote Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 144). Is such a concept attainable? Can anyone learn to be his or her own physician, and, in turn, be a physician to others? The Christian Science Sentinel says, Yes! And in our pages this week, we have explored that possibility and discussed ways to nurture spirituality and the ability to pray effectively.

At times prayers may feel like hollow words. During those hungry-heart times, fresh inspiration may be elusive, and even getting on one's knees mentally and physically may not feel helpful. Yet God is wherever we are—and His ideas are heaped and pouring over in abundance. And that very moment of yearning can be seen as an overture to follow Jesus' example. The Gospels tell of Jesus' all-night prayer vigils, of his stepping away from increasingly large crowds to snatch moments to discern and acknowledge God's omnipotence, and moments to acknowledge his own reason for being—to serve the God he understood to be Love itself.

Before raising his friend Lazarus from death, Jesus thanked God for always hearing him; before feeding the thousands, he thanked God for His abundance. And in his own dire need in the garden of Gethsemane, when he pleaded—to no avail—to three disciples to "watch with me" on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus was able to turn completely from all human help to find life in God. His example inspires, instructs. His standard endorses the fact that each person can be in continual conversation with God. Everyone can take moments, as Mennonite Pastor Weldon Nisly says this week (p. 14), to be always "grounded in the presence of God in prayer, in every day's ordinariness."

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