Article October 29, 2007 Issue

a reason to smile

BY ANTOINETTE ISAAC

WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE, I began reading and attended my first services at a Christian Science church. At the time, I had a habit that had persisted since childhood. For as long as I could remember, I'd sucked my thumb in order to get to sleep at night. Nothing I tried helped me break this habit. As a child, having sleepovers at home or going to slumber parties was simply out of the question. Too embarrassing! I've since learned that many people are troubled by this habit into their adult years, and even some major news services have addressed the problem.

I felt that being free from this habit was an important step in my spiritual progress, so I made it my mission to find healing in Christian Science. As I prayed, considering what God created me to be, I really liked thinking about a sentence from an article published years ago in the Sentinel, which says in "There are no vacuums, no waste places, no burdensome responsibilities. . ." in lives that reflect God (L. Ivimy Gwalter, "Reflection," Christian Science Sentinel, Dec. 7, 1940).