How often have we found ourselves regretting something from the past? An event, a missed opportunity, a relationship can seem to linger in memory for months or years. No matter how often we think about it or try to correct it, it never seems to resolve.

There may be other times when we long for the past—for someone who’s passed on or for the “good old days” when life seemed less frenzied, more meaningful. Or we might just feel—to some extent—as if we’re defined by the cumulative result of all our experiences, positive and negative.

Thoughts such as these can make life seem predetermined and inescapable. They can leave us feeling powerless, hopeless, perhaps even doomed. In Christian Science, however, we learn that our true identity is wholly spiritual, so we never have to be constrained or dominated by a material history. As God’s loved children, made and maintained in the divine image, we aren’t actually restricted within the confines of time, but live in the limitless expanse of eternity, reflecting only God’s nature and qualities.