I learned to scull a number of years ago, but a year and a half went by when I didn’t get out on a boat in the river. When I returned, nothing worked. I could barely lift the oars out of the water, couldn’t synchronize them, and the boat tipped side to side. What was wrong? Had I grabbed oars that were too long and too heavy for me? That was my conclusion as I struggled to get back to the dock at the public boathouse, where a more experienced rower pulled me in. As I began my verbal analysis, he cut me off. “Your oarlocks are backward,” he said.

Sure enough, the oarlocks—the U-shaped cups where the oars rest—faced the bow, not the stern. I repositioned the oarlocks. With the oars set correctly, I then rowed almost effortlessly down the river, able to control the direction of my boat. No matter the skill or experience of the rower or the difficulty of the course, correct placement of the oars in the oarlocks is fundamental. You can’t row successfully if your oarlocks are backward!

In life, too, there are spiritual fundamentals that facilitate progress and guide us. Trying to operate contrary to these is like trying to row with misdirected oarlocks—a lot of struggle and limited progress.

What are some of these fundamentals? Christ Jesus set them out in his healing ministry. To his disciples he explained, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). In his many healing works, Jesus overcame challenges to supply and health, and he conquered the grave. He demonstrated the power of God, the divine Spirit, over matter—and man’s ability to exercise dominion over matter. Praying to understand our spiritual nature and identity as God’s idea is fundamental and leads to healing in Christian Science.

Jesus also instructed: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He exemplified pure, spiritual love consistently in his healing ministry, even when challenged by those who questioned his authority to heal. Some of these same people argued that those he was helping were not worthy of God’s love. 

For instance, Jesus was once challenged by scribes and Pharisees to condemn a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery (see John 8:1–11). Yet his response was to tell her accusers that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. No one stepped forward; they simply retreated. He then told the woman that he did not condemn her, but he instructed her to sin no more. His ministry evidenced his deep understanding of his Father-Mother God, as divine Love, and Love’s reforming and healing power. Acting from this basis and from our understanding of divine Love is fundamental in living and in healing. 

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, amplifies this important point that God is Love: “The starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind,—that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle” (p. 275). When our thought is rooted in Spirit and secured by divine Love, it is aligned with God and set in the right direction, steadied and guided on life’s journey.

Sometimes, however, we may be tempted to accept matter, with all its instability, as the reality and try to find cause within what the material senses say is the problem. We may worry over a malfunctioning body or malfunctioning economy or another person. We may focus on changing our circumstances—our location, our job, our relationships—as a way to find a solution, just as I worried that I needed to change the size of the oars. 

While change might emerge as a progressive step, it is important first to consider in which direction and on what basis our thinking is grounded and what is holding it steady. If we find ourselves agitated by events or by the actions of others or ourselves, we can reposition and secure our mental oarlocks in accord with spiritual truth. Jesus showed us how to do this, as did Mrs. Eddy. 

In her healing work, Mrs. Eddy demonstrated God as the universal Principle, Love. She noted in Science and Health, “Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power” (p. 192).

As we acknowledge the spiritual nature of our being, we discover our unlimited potential. We can set our mental oarlocks in the direction of Spirit, not matter. We can begin our day with prayer, listen for divine guidance, then head on our journey with a loving heart.