"Mommy! What are you doing?!"

My little daughter's horrified cry rang through the kitchen. I paused and stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm fixing dinner," I answered. Yet her dismay continued.

"But you just poured all the macaroni down the drain!"

Now we were on the same page, but I could only laugh at her concerns. After I lifted her up to have a quick peek in the sink, she started to giggle, too. What she couldn't see from her preschool eye-level was that there was a strainer sitting in the sink to catch all of her cherished macaroni while the boiling water drained away. Clearly, she'd never really observed this before, and my actions had seemed to her like a steam-filled heave-ho that would put an end to the favorite dinner she was anticipating.

Perspective can make all the difference in life. But what I really love about lessons like this, where a fresh and correct perspective emerges, is that one never needs to go backward in terms of understanding. It took a couple of years for my daughter to grow tall enough to see into the sink, but she never again believed that I was pouring pasta down the drain. Even though she couldn't see it, she'd learned the lesson of how it all worked, and trusted the outcome.

In my years as a preschool and elementary teacher, I found the same progressive pattern to be true for the laws and rules that lay the foundation for academics. I loved those moments when the proverbial lights would go on and a little one would realize that those markings on the page made words and that he or she could read them. What a life-altering change of perspective that realization brings! Suddenly, the world is filled with words, where just yesterday there were only strange markings.

And in my own life, I've found that lessons learned about the spiritual nature of the universe are no different, and no less dramatic in their effect on my perception, or perspective. Just like learning to read, gaining the truer sense of our glorious oneness with God, who is the source of eternal good, makes everything appear in a totally different way from the way it did the day before. And once we really understand some new concept, the blessings and spiritual growth that it brings can never be taken away.

A while back, I spent many hours struggling to understand the spiritual concept that my life is not only complete, but also fresh and new in every moment. Dear friends, whose insights I cherish, assured me that I was on the right track in my prayers, so I felt a confidence, almost a determination, in my efforts. I had to gain this new perspective for myself. I needed to truly understand it.

I dove into everything Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, has to say about creation. And there is a lot! There is a whole chapter devoted to clarifying the spiritual meaning of the opening chapters of Genesis in the Bible, and many other sections explaining the relationship between God and all of creation, including man and woman made in God's image.

One important thing that I noticed was that while Mary Baker Eddy talked about creation in a complete and spiritual sense, she mostly used present tense verbs—for example, in this sentence: "Infinite Mind creates and governs all, ..." (p. 507). And later in the same paragraph, "Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source." But I wrestled with just how creation could be both complete and ongoing at the same time.

What finally made it all click for me was gaining a glimpse of what is often called the "eternal now." I realized that what we are seeing here in this human experience involves a mortal sense of life that begins, runs a course, and then ends, with perhaps some kind of after-life experience following. But I saw how that's not really the case; life that exists in eternity, I was learning, does not have beginnings and endings. That wonderful "in the beginning" from Genesis can be better translated "in principle," without some grand starting point. There was no "big bang" for God's creation—otherwise, there would logically be some dramatic ending.

"The infinite has no beginning," Science and Health states. "This word beginning is employed to signify the only,—that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe" (p. 502). And because we spiritually exist in "the only," the present reality of the universe, a complete creation that is also fresh and new, is logical. True spiritual existence is taking place only in that eternal now, where there is no past, present, or future; just the perfection of God's creation—ongoing and permanently glorious.

When I really "got it," it was as if I'd been lifted up, much as I'd lifted my daughter when she needed to see the mechanics of pasta preparation. It all made sense! No going backward from there.

Grasping this concept has been foundational to me, and a launching pad for gaining an even more inspired thought. It shed new light on why we all can challenge, in our prayers, the reality of mental and physical distress—because it has no place in this eternally spiritual, harmonious, and perfect now that God is constantly creating and governing. It adds firmness to the demand that we see and feel our spiritual perfection right this moment.

Those first steps in understanding how to read, or even cook pasta, are major discoveries, but that is not where they stop. As one continues to explore and learn and grow, every day is wide open for new changes in perception. A boundless, unlimited, spiritual view comes into focus. And what's really thrilling is that every time I open Science and Health (and even copies of this magazine), I know that there is some new change in perspective just waiting for me. css