What do you see?

As children, my sister and I would lie on the grass, look up at the night sky, and ask each other, “What do you see?” At first we saw the typical constellations: the Little Dipper; Big Dipper; Leo, the Lion. Then we’d giggle and point to the sky again, as it suddenly seemed there was so much more before us—wild animals, paths to rainbows, weeping willow trees, etc. The possibilities seemed endless.

The Christian Science Bible Lesson this week, titled “Reality,” encourages us to reflect on the question: What do you see? At first glance, the Bible stories may present human experiences with “endless possibilities”—both good and bad. By digging deeper into the spiritual interpretations of these stories, we can understand how Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul were able to see and experience healing—through the ever-widening view of divine Mind.

For example, in 586 bc the original temple in Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians. The human picture appeared bleak. With the temple gone and the Israelites exiled from Jerusalem, there was every reason to believe that God had deserted them. However, Isaiah saw that God wasn’t limited to a physical structure or place, and therefore could not be absent. Isaiah’s message of spiritual comfort, “there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:6 , citation 2), encouraged them to see God everywhere, always present, and all powerful.

In Luke, we are told of a woman who had “a spirit of infirmity eighteen years.” (see Luke 13:11–17 , cit. 12). Most people would have seen her as physically ill, but Jesus saw only spiritual perfection, and “loosed” her—released her—from a limited, material view of herself. Mary Baker Eddy explained, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness …” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 476–477 , cit. 13). Although many in the crowd must have been amazed at seeing the healing of the woman, the rulers of the synagogue, blinded by the literal interpretation of Torah, saw Jesus as breaking the law by healing on the Sabbath. With great compassion, Jesus opened the eyes of the rulers, “and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.”

What do we do when we—or a friend or family member—experience pain, discomfort, or any difficult situation? The Apostle Paul might tell us as he told the Philippians to see the reality of spiritual existence—and do the works that Jesus did: “Rejoice in the Lord …. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:4, 9 . cit. 19). Might Paul be asking us to soar beyond our restricted view? To set our sights on the continuous unveiling of God’s perfect peace?

One could argue that all the controversy in the world revolves around the question: What do you see? Is the answer anger, frustration, a sense of limitation? When we hold fast to the message in this week’s Golden Text, “I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 46:9 ), the answer can only be—God—in all His beauty, abundance, and harmony.

“Unto every one of us is given grace” to see God (Ephesians 4:7 , cit. 24).