Article December 7, 2015 Issue

Which direction will you choose?

Irene L. Alley

I was having company over for dinner, so I put plates on top of the stove to warm. When I set the table, the last plate was so hot I burned my hand. I yelled, but no one came running! I realized that I could yell louder and perhaps someone would come, or I could start praying. I recognized that these were two opposite directions, and if I chose personal attention and sympathy over the quiet assurance that all was well, I would be headed in the wrong direction. I made the choice for healing, and started praying. Soon all evidence of the burn disappeared. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy points to the need to head in the right direction. She writes, “Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take” (p. 392).

The Science of Christianity teaches us that healing comes from learning more about God and His law, and how His presence and nature define man’s true being. Man is not the physical entity and personality he seems to be. His substance is entirely spiritual because he is the offspring of God, infinite Spirit (see Science and Health, p. 475).

If we want someone to share our fears or be aghast at material evidence, then we are accepting, or agreeing with, the very error we wish to see removed. Personal sympathy may seem pleasant, even desirable, but it can steer us in the wrong direction and prolong our journey; it can lead us into focusing on false evidence presented by the physical senses, when we should be reaching for the spiritual truths that help and heal. Turning to God in prayer, on the other hand, always gets us moving in the right direction.

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