Article June 1, 2015 Issue

Truth that never fails

Michael Slater

Years ago, my Uncle Frank talked about his time of service as an aviator at the Thule Air Base in Greenland. He spoke of the “pea-soup” fog that permeated the area during many days. At those times, he could barely see the runway during takeoff, and didn’t see it again until just before landing. I asked him how it was possible to navigate in those conditions. He said that in the fog, perceptions became confused. It was hard to tell if you were flying upside down, headed up or down, or making other accurate judgments. He also said something I have thought of many times over the years: “You have to trust your instruments.”

Unlike Uncle Frank in his planes, I didn’t feel I had instruments to direct my course in life, especially involving what actions to take or which direction to pursue. It certainly seemed confusing at times. I relied on input from others I trusted, or from my own reasoning or common sense. But when I was introduced to Christian Science, I started learning about a spiritual form of navigating or finding my way in what, some of the time, seemed like the maze of human life.

I read in the Bible where Jesus said, speaking to his apostle Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). This helped me see that seeking the truth of God and man through the testimony of the material senses doesn’t work; we need to follow Christ, Truth, with our spiritual sense. And I read another of Jesus’ statements along those lines: “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14).

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