A talent we all possess
A friend who was planning to join a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, was given a membership application. The people she listed as references were mailed recommendation forms to complete. One form was sent to the Christian Science practitioner and teacher with whom the applicant had recently completed class instruction in Christian Science.
An item on the recommendation form asked the reference to list the “talents” possessed by the applicant that would be useful in supporting the activities of the branch church. The practitioner only listed one. She wrote, “[The applicant] has the talent of spiritual mindedness.”
What does it mean to be spiritually minded, to possess “spiritual mindedness”? The Apostle Paul says, “To be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 ). In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidelity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them” (p. 95 ). Spiritual mindedness is obviously a very powerful and useful talent to develop.
What are some of the benefits of being spiritually minded? Eddy states: “By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadiness to resolve, and success to endeavor” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 204 ).
Spiritual mindedness protected me from being harmed.
Being spiritually minded is living at one with divine Mind, with Love, guiding our thought and activities. Eddy explains, “The spiritually minded are inspired with tenderness, Truth, and Love. The life of Christ Jesus, his words and his deeds, demonstrate Love. We have no evidence of being Christian Scientists except we possess this inspiration, and its power to heal and to save” (Mary Baker Eddy, Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 8 ).
A number of years ago, when I was a graduate student, I was completing an assignment in a large city. Since I would be there for only two months, a fellow student and I rented a room in the home of an elderly woman.
One weekend night, my friend went back to the university, but I stayed in town to go on a date. Returning home very late, I quietly opened the front door to the house. I felt uneasy as I started to enter the front hallway, and I heard an almost audible voice in my thought telling me to whistle. I obeyed.
When I looked up, I saw my landlady standing at the top of the staircase, pointing a pistol at me. She heard me whistle and took her finger off the trigger. She apologized and explained that a few weeks prior to our renting the room she had been robbed and that she had bought a pistol and had been trained in how to use it.
There was no apparent reason for me to whistle at 2:00 in the morning. In fact, I rarely whistle at all. I very soon realized that it was spiritual mindedness that had protected me from being harmed. Again, as Mary Baker Eddy states, a spiritual state of mind “... permeates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, and power ...” Later I reflected on the Bible’s 91st Psalm: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (verses 11, 12 ).
Spiritual mindedness is a talent we all possess—but like all talents, it must be practiced. It develops continually as we throw off matter-based thinking, and practice seeing ourselves, our neighbors, and the events in our lives as God sees them. The wonderful thing about being spiritually minded is that we don’t have to do it by ourselves. Spiritual mindedness is not gained through the human or mortal mind. God, Spirit, is continually giving us His spiritual ideas. We only need to listen and discern them as we go.
