From the Editors May 7, 2012 Issue

With your whole heart

The Editors

It could very well be that multi-tasking, taken by many to be an art form in our time, is overrated. Some long for a simpler approach. Others yearn to do one or two things well, rather than a list of things half-heartedly. This desire for wholeheartedness can seem, if undetected, like an ache. Something’s missing, but we aren’t sure what it is. We feel occupied, yet unengaged; full of things to do, but empty.

This malaise is apparently not unique to our highly busy, often distracted, society. It was seen in biblical times as well. Of one of the kings of Judah, it is written, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly” (II Chronicles 25:2, New International
Version). Wholeheartedness, in contrast, is a quality that received admiration in biblical times. King David wrote in a psalm to God of his affection and desire, “I will praise thee with my whole heart” (Psalms 138:1). And, of course, of Christ Jesus, the one whose whole heart and life was singly devoted to God, it is noted, “He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37).

To be devoted, to be wholehearted, is a means of understanding right here and now our oneness with God. This isn’t something we can track by assessing our bank accounts, our work performance, the numbers of friends and contacts we may have, or even our health. It is a feel. It is perceived through spiritual sense, a kind of knowing. Spiritual sense, as described by Mary Baker Eddy in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God” (p. 209). It is to understand that God is not just here and ever-presently so, but the very center of all, and is All. It is to accept our place as the offspring of God—as God’s being, expressed.

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