Article December 28, 2015 Issue

Celebrating the integrity of man

Jan Keeler

At the end of enjoying a Christmas Eve dinner out at a restaurant with family and friends, I discovered I was missing my wallet. A frantic search ensued with waiters crawling underneath tables, but no wallet was found.

Remarkably, a deep feeling came over me—not of anger, fear, resentment, or anxiety, but a tidal wave of deep love. In a moment when I could have felt violated, threatened, guilty, and thoughtless for not keeping a closer watch, I felt instead the prayers of my friends and family, who were all Christian Scientists—students of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. I knew they were praying along with me to uphold in our thought the integrity of man and to know it would be known and witnessed. This was especially important because of the mental atmosphere of fear about theft and other crimes in the area. I felt the warmth of God, divine Truth and Love, and a peaceful calm.

Once we were outside the restaurant, I asked my friends how they were praying. Here are some of the thoughts they shared: God, good, is divine Principle, all cause, consciousness, and action. Nothing can be known or experienced outside the allness of Principle, omnipresent Love. As the image of Principle, God’s expression, man, has no other option than to be Godlike, to be pure, innocent, loving, and true. The Bible states that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13), and Christian Science reasons that man—God’s idea, the result of God’s knowing—sees himself and is known only as he really is, totally good and upright. And this spiritual understanding of man’s real identity as God’s image awakens in the human mind the desire and ability to be honest, to do what is right.

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