“The best students are those who endure the challenging stretches of practice in order to achieve new levels of ability.” 

That’s what a music teacher once told me. He explained that all students are required to expand beyond their comfort zones in order to get better—but that through experience, the best students come to associate the uphill climb of the moment with the corresponding new height they’ll reach in the future. Through this association, he said, students learn to welcome—even enjoy—the trials of practice.

I’ve found that this wise insight also applies to other areas of life. I had a recent experience in my practice of Christian Science that demonstrated the same principle.

I had been following a government issue closely in the news. The situation involved a deadlock between two political parties, and their apparent inability to find common ground threatened to have far-reaching, negative effects. Public criticism of government officials grew, and people were starting to give up hope. Feeling discouraged, I was tempted to give in to apathy and find something more entertaining to focus on. But I knew that this issue required prayer, not only for those directly involved, but for my own sense of government and the brotherhood of mankind. So I set out to pray more earnestly about the issue, reaching deeper into my study of Christian Science. Here are some of the highlights of what I uncovered:

Keep a spiritual perspective: In a Sentinel online chat called “Prayer for Government” (July 19, 2011), the guest noted that Jesus often removed himself from others in order to pray. This jumped out at me. I had been following the news so intently that the discouraging human picture had taken center stage in my thought, leaving little room to recognize the perfection of God and man as taught in Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy speaks of the importance of this teaching and its connection to the healing practice: “Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 242). With that realization, I committed to taking a step back from the constant news coverage—not to ignore the world, but to give myself the space needed to nurture a more spiritual, healing perspective of the issue at hand.

Every prayer counts: In a Sunday morning church service, I took special note of the following words from one of the hymns we sang: “My prayer, some daily good to do / To Thine, for Thee” (Mary Baker Eddy, No. 253). The large scale of the political situation had been discouraging to me, as I felt like the effect of my prayer would be minuscule in comparison. But that line from the Hymnal reminded me that we are to approach prayer issue by issue, day by day, and so long as our prayer is the best we know how to do in service to our Father, it is sufficient.

God is the healer: A church friend pointed me to an article from The Christian Science Journal, and it brought home the point that God is the one who really does the healing work in Christian Science. Our practice of spiritual healing is about getting in sync with God, and then witnessing Him unfold the healing truth in human experience through the healing activity of the Christ. This concept was freeing to me. Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). If we can align our prayers with the Divine, then our prayers have unlimited potential for good.

I committed to taking a step back from the constant news coverage, to give myself the space needed to nurture a more spiritual perspective.

At one point in my prayers, I found myself reading about the great red dragon in the book of Revelation in the Bible. I felt as if I had been staring down that same hideous creature in my own thought. But just as the Revelator proved the dragon’s existence to be temporal, I would shortly feel a release. The world problem that had so filled my thought was being displaced by my growing sense of the allness of God.

I was soon ready to abandon all of the human opinions related to the political issue, and trust only what God was communicating to me. I was looking to God as my primary source of information, where I had previously been turning to the constant stream of media coverage and analysis.

Shortly after reaching this point of stability, I listened to an audio recording of an article from The Christian Science Journal titled “The Might of God’s Spiritual Government” (L. Ivimy Gwalter, October 1968, Vol. 86, p. 505). I had heard the article before, but this time it felt entirely new. Every line was clear and beautiful, and every concept resonated with my entire being. These words particularly stood out to me: “Wherever God is, government is; wherever true government is, God is. This is true because God by His very nature is All-in-all.” And later, the author wrote, “The universe of Spirit, upheld and governed by the law of Spirit, is the one and only universe here and now. . . . It is not a material universe that needs to be discarded or changed but a material sense of the universe.” I saw how God had a direct line of communication to me, revealing all of the wonders of His laws of creation. The message was entirely spiritual, but it was not at all separate from the experience I was living through. It was a serene realization of heaven on earth.

The two political parties eventually arrived at a compromise that averted the disastrous outcome that some had predicted. I was very grateful for that. But the real story for me was the new level of understanding I had reached regarding God’s government. As with the aspiring music student, getting to that next level was at times trying, and required a committed effort. But now that I know how glorious the healing truth is, I can see that the work was totally worth it. When the next challenge comes along, I’m ready to do it again!