Article April 16, 2018 Issue

Unvarying health

Carol Rounds

One day as I was brushing my teeth, I complimented myself for taking such good care of my teeth—an assessment that had been confirmed by good reports from the hygienist who cleaned them. Suddenly I realized I had accepted a concept of myself as a material being, kept healthy through proper hygiene.

I’ve learned in Christian Science that we should always be recognizing God, Spirit, rather than matter as the one and only preserver of our health, since we are God’s spiritual ideas. According to the Psalmist, our health comes from God: “I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalms 42:11). In reality, dental care never had and never could have any effect on health, since the health of a spiritual idea is maintained by Spirit.

Keeping the body clean is normal, and cleanliness certainly shouldn’t be neglected! But just as I don’t believe that washing a car has any effect on how well it runs, I knew I could not be tempted to think that cleansing the body was the source of its health. Health is and always has been the only condition of true being, which has its source in God. This realization felt like an important step of progress for me in looking away from the body or matter to judge health or reality, and in accepting Spirit as the source and circumference of my being.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Unvarying health

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access