Article December 18, 2006 ISSUE

Next in our biweekly series on how people have nurtured their public practice of Christian Science.

ANYONE CAN BE A HEALER

'... AND WONDERS OF HIS LOVE'

RON MANGELSDORF—Palmer, Alaska

OVER 20 YEARS AGO on a very cold, dark, and wintry night in Alaska, I gained a wonderful insight into the true meaning of Christmas. That inspired insight changed the course of my life.

At the time, for a variety of reasons that I then deemed "adventurous," I lived in a horse stable. How I got there is altogether another story. But this one particular night stands out. It was Christmas night, and I was lying on a bed of straw, one sleeping bag stuffed inside another, trying to stay warm. As I snuggled in my double bag, I thought back to one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories.

My family had a little nativity scene that we displayed in a room separate from our Christmas tree, apart from the gifts, cookies, and other decorations. I remembered as a child sitting quietly and looking at that scene with its figures, imagining what it would have been like to be present on the night Jesus was born.

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