FROM THE EDITORS August 29, 2005 Issue

THE THOUGHT OF INFINITY

THINK OF A VAST EXPANSE of sandy beach, stretching as far as the eye can see, mighty waves crashing ashore. How many individual grains of sand compose that expanse? The mind boggles. Surely no number could be given. And yet, for the composer of Psalm 139, there was something even more numerous than those grains of sand: the thoughts God gives. "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand" (verses 17 and 18).

So often, people can see no way out of illness, debt, deadend lives, conflict. And yet, for all of that, God never stops sending precious thoughts to us, infinite in number—representing infinite solutions. Many times, people look first for things to meet their needs, such as a new prescription drug, a check in the mail, a job offer. And it's perhaps no wonder we're accustomed to approaching life in this way, given what our eyes and ears tell us. That's why it's so significant that the Psalmist spoke in terms of "thoughts." Whatever the issue at hand, God's solutions, being spiritual in nature, are not actually physical, but mental. Looking first for these ideas from God is what brings mental enlightenment and understanding, which in turn produce outward improvement in the human condition.

This is more than an exercise of the human mind. Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of the healing Truth that Jesus taught and practiced, explains existence as based on the fact that "all is infinite Mind [God] and its infinite manifestation" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). No matter how intractable or hopeless or fearsome a given circumstance appears, this infinite Mind holds countless ideas for us that will heal and save. Searching for these ideas, thinking on them, desiring them, describes the activity of prayer. You could honestly say that our prayers are never limited, because God's thoughts "unto us" are infinite.

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