Article June 11, 2007 Issue

What if?

BY MARGARET FOERSTER

When friends first started asking me to pray for them as a Christian Science practitioner, I was tempted to focus on helping them satisfy their immediate wants—a job, house, car, or soul mate. Maybe a better body, good health, or just wise advice. But I knew this wasn't what I was to do as a practitioner, and wouldn't have been meeting the deeper need in any given instance.

A story in the Bible's book of Acts alerted me to the importance of distinguishing between what an individual thinks he or she wants and what's really needed, as well as what is required of me spiritually in order to meet the deeper need for healing.

Peter and John, apostles of Jesus, were on their way to the temple. As they approached one of the temple gates, they saw a man who'd been placed outside the entrance. Crippled people were not welcomed inside the temple area, and this man had been born with a deformity. Peter and John knew he would be asking them for money. They could have walked right on by. But they didn't. Peter said, "Look on us," and the man turned to them, expecting to receive alms.

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