Follow the bright white line

Most people who have driven at night on a winding two-lane road can probably relate to this situation: You’re coming around a bend when an oncoming vehicle approaches, and the glare of its headlights makes it increasingly difficult to see which way the road before you will turn. Good thing there’s a bright white line on the right side of your lane to show the path ahead! Focusing your eyes on that line as it winds along in front of you tells you what you need to know to steer safely.

The above scenario is a useful analogy relating to our lives individually and collectively as a Church. Through God’s love, Christ Jesus, you could say, laid down that guiding white line, and Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, came along and freshly traced that line, amplifying it to make it so clear no one can miss it. Jesus described his life and mission as “the way” (John 14:6 )—and Mrs. Eddy’s life and words, explaining that “way,” are indispensable for a safe journey, so much so that Christian Scientists refer to her affectionately as “Leader.”

When challenges approach that would attempt to obscure your path, you know you have a bright white line to follow—the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.

It is recorded that Mrs. Eddy once questioned Calvin Hill to learn how well he understood Christian Science. Hill was an early worker in the Christian Science movement who came to know Mrs. Eddy not as a member of her household or as one of her own students, but as a result of his work as a salesman for a local home furnishings company. After being favorably impressed, she asked, “By the way, who is your teacher?” He replied: “I believe I shall have to call you my teacher. I have been studying your book Science and Health and your other writings for the past four years, and if what is said to me by one of your own students or by one of your students’ students is not backed up or verified by your writings, I take no stock in his statements, none whatever!” (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Expanded Edition, Volume I, p. 336).

Mrs. Eddy’s response to him is noteworthy—she said, “My child, my child, my child, you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe!” Isn’t that what following the Bible and her teachings does for us? They are that “bright white line” that reveals the safe road before each of us as we travel in the way Jesus taught. Mrs. Eddy put it this way: “Students who strictly adhere to the right, and make the Bible and Science and Health a study, are in no danger of mistaking their way” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 284 ). Mrs. Eddy knew what would keep those who follow Jesus and the teachings of Christian Science securely on the path Spiritward.

So safe travels to you in church work and life. When challenges approach that would attempt to obscure your path, you know you have a bright white line to follow, and you find that line by turning to the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings for insight and clear guidance.