MEASURING UP

MELISSA HAYDEN—SALEM, OREGON

Anyone Can be a healer. You're kidding. Don't you have to be perfect? In order to be able to pray effectively for other people, you already have to have conquered everything yourself, right? That's what I thought for a long time.

What I've come to understand is that to learn and grow spiritually, and to put into practice what I'm learning, is an ongoing experience—available to all—that doesn't ever end, regardless of whether one is a practitioner advertising in The Christian Science Journal or a new student of Christian Science.

When I was young, I watched my grandmother, a Journal-listed practitioner, pray with others in a clear and caring way, and I considered her profession to be noble and wonderful. It seemed like it would be a lovely thing to do when I reached "her age." But I felt I had a long way to go in my understanding of Christian Science before I could ever consider such a step.

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