My grandmother shared with me something from one of her young Sunday School students, and it made a big impression. The student didn’t want her concerned father to focus on her injured finger, so she said, “Oh, Daddy, please don’t see what you are going to look at.” This young girl had been taught in Christian Science Sunday School, in essence, to replace a material view of life with the recognition of her true, spiritual identity as God’s, Spirit’s, child, and that this would bring about healing. As Mary Baker Eddy writes in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things” (p. 129).

Once when I was attempting to unjam a heavy steel window, it suddenly came crashing down, with its lower sharp edge cutting and smashing my fingertips before I could pull them back. I was alone in the home, and all I could do at that point was quickly grab some paper towels and cover the wounds. Unable to use either hand, I went to a neighbor, who helped me temporarily bandage the fingers. Despite their physical appearance, I refused to be frightened by the injuries and realized that just as that little girl had been taught, I could immediately claim my spiritual identity, maintained by God as indestructible and whole.

The next morning, I went to my local Christian Science nursing facility and asked for help with bandaging. I was met by a Christian Science nurse who was both cheerful and, more important, unimpressed with the challenge at hand. Her calm, clear view of my true, spiritual identity removed any lingering feelings of fear.