YOU CAN BE A HEALER September 27, 2010 Issue

Our occasional series on how people have nurtured their public practice of Christian Science healing.

A 'DIVINE LAW CAREER'

THOMAS MITCHINSON—NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS, US

GROWING UP, I always thought I would be an attorney—possibly with a career in public service. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. I loved reading about various politicians and Supreme Court justices, and admired some of them greatly. In college, I majored in political science and planned on attending law school.

During these years, I was also gaining a great love for Christian Science. A history class I took asked students to make a list of great people throughout history. Others in the class stated various presidents, statesmen, and even authors and philosophers. But I found myself thinking, "The greatest man in history, the one I should emulate, is Christ Jesus." This was quite a revelation to me, and caught me off guard.

What would happen to my law career? I wondered. Then one day I found this passage in the book of Psalms: "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" (119:97). I knew then that the practice of God's law, as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus and illuminated in Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health, would be my career from that day forward. I would be a Christian healer, a Christian Science practitioner. In her book Rudimental Divine Science, Mrs. Eddy defined Christian Science this way: "As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (p. 1).