Article July 17, 2017 Issue

One perfect God and perfect man—a present reality

Suzanne Ruffin

My husband and I were enjoying a leisurely hike around a nearby lake. When we reached an inlet, which was feeding the lake with running water, I saw a most unusual phenomenon—a stunning, double reflection of the sun. One reflection sparkled on the surface of the lake, and one reflection sparkled on the surface of the inlet. This exquisite phenomenon appeared to occur as a result of the uneven level of the water between the lake and the inlet.

Intuitively, I looked up to the sky and felt reassured that our blue planet was still rotating around only one radiant sun. I was not tricked by the illusion! And looking up to the original sun rather than its double reflection reminded me of a simple rule in Christian Science: We look to the one and only cause, God, divine Truth, for a correct sense of reality, and not to what we might perceive with the material senses.

The Lord’s Prayer, given to us by Christ Jesus, begins with the perfection of the one and only cause and creator, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9). The word hallowed means holy, and holy is related to wholeness. In giving her “spiritual sense” of this verse, Mary Baker Eddy penned, “Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 16). Clearly the absolute and perfect nature of God is indicated in this first line of the Lord’s Prayer.