Turning Points in Spiritual Growth December 18, 2017 Issue

Cover to cover

Cathy Fields

I was literally knocked off my feet. Out of the blue, I was stricken with such pain that it prevented me from leaving my studio apartment for several weeks—much of the time unable to get up from an easy chair. The unexpected blessing that resulted from this experience: I learned that I could learn; that there is one God, one clear, intelligent, omnipresent, divine Mind that I reflect and am never separated from, and thus I could joyously, easily, receptively read and understand.

Ever since Christian Science came to my attention several years ago, I have been filled with love and appreciation for Mary Baker Eddy and the Science she discovered. Until this experience, though, I had never read any of her writings cover to cover. Whenever I read one of her books, I would open to this or that page, or chapter, or section—to any part I felt led to read—but never read it cover to cover. Yet, there was always a niggling feeling that I should at the least read the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, from cover to cover.

And so, when my Christian Science teacher gave our association the assignment to read Science and Health in this way, I obediently embarked on this task. I was reading dutifully, but at the time the physical difficulty began, I was telling myself that I wasn’t understanding what I was reading. I was literally stuck in chapter 10, “Science of Being.” What I really wanted to do was skip ahead to chapter 12—“Christian Science Practice”—thinking there I would find the spiritual inspiration I needed!