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Learning the language of Spirit
“What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. And what do you call someone who speaks one language? American!”
As an American working in Brazil, I found my friend’s little joke edgy but often true. He always tells me that I am “really different” from all the Americans he knows because I always ask him questions about words in Portuguese and write down his answers on a little notepad I carry with me, constantly reviewing and repeating the new words, expressions, or grammar. I’ve spent the last four years striving to become fluent in Spanish and, later, Portuguese.
One day, as I sat in a plastic chair in my apartment in downtown Curitiba, I thought to myself how similar the practice of Christian Science is to learning a foreign language. Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “Christian Science is not an exception to the general rule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at the same time hit the mark” (Science and Health, p. 457). It seems to me that qualities such as mental activeness, self-discipline, and expectancy—as well as love for others—are the keys to success.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
May 7, 2012 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Suz Goewert, Betsy Barber, Andrew Wilson
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Mother's Day every day
Dorothy Estes, Editor
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Mom with us
Norm Bleichman
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'Do you have a mother?'
Lynne Cook
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Father=Mother
Hugh Pendexter III
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Learning the language of Spirit
Brian Asher
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You are always loved
Rod Savoye
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100% Natural
Mary Julia Kephart
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Embrace a higher view
Stephanie Johnson
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'Things into thoughts'
Ruth Truscott
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I overcame shyness
Kim Fernandes Donadelli
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You're not invisible!
By Mark
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'I had found what I was searching for'
Kaśka Michaëlis
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A vibrant, active testimony meeting
Hannah Mensing
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Class instruction: a life changer
Rosemary Denson Miller
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In the wake of a shooting, how can we pray?
Melanie Ball
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'From glory to glory'
Michael Hamilton
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Cherry blossom time
Helen Eddy
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Healthy and active on a family trip
Robert Bates
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Lump in breast healed
Linda Ross
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Hip and leg pain healed
Vicki Knickerbocker
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With your whole heart
The Editors