Four years ago, I was celebrating our country’s Independence Day. It was a beautiful summer day, and our family was enjoying an afternoon with friends at their lake house. When it was my turn to water ski, I made a mistake and went too wide at the end of a run. With the lake being narrow and the boat needing to make a sharp turn, I was whipped around so quickly that I lost control. Because of my excessive speed, I somersaulted over the water in the most colossal wipeout I have ever experienced in my decades of water skiing. 

When I finally came to a stop, I formed a large circle with my arms above my head, which is the “OK” sign to a boat driver. I also felt giving an OK sign was a way of reassuring myself that I could claim my perfection as the unbroken child of God, made and maintained perfectly by my creator, and that all truly was well. 

One of my favorite chapters in the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is the Glossary. Here, Eddy defines baptism in part as “purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit” (p. 581). As I waited in the water for the boat to come to me, I prayed to see myself truly submerged in Spirit, God.