As a student in a Christian Science Sunday School, I was taught that, as the Bible says, God is Spirit, and man is His likeness. I learned that this means we are each truly spiritual, not material. But one day when I was a very young teenager complaining to my older sister about something, she caught me by surprise by saying quite bluntly, “You are not matter.” After my initial reaction, I realized that her words made perfect sense. As I pondered them, the issue that I had been complaining about simply dissolved. 

The concept “You are not matter” has stayed with me and was instrumental in a healing I had several years ago. One early morning I got a call asking for my prayers and decided to get out of bed and go into my office to pray. I finished praying and attempted to get out of my chair, but found that I couldn’t put any weight on one of my legs. Knowing that God, divine Love, had not caused this, I resisted looking for a reason for the discomfort and instead vigorously affirmed that my true substance was Spirit and that matter was no part of my being as an expression of God. This statement came to thought: “Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immortal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phenomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always erroneous” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 277). I didn’t want to say or believe anything about this situation that gave pain or limitation any power. Rather, I wanted to acknowledge and honor God, Spirit, as the only power. 

This enabled me to be clear about my right to be well, as I hopped on one leg while getting dressed and eating breakfast and then returned to my office. I felt it was important to not let the discomfort prevent me from doing my work of praying for others. As I considered the fact that matter is always erroneous, I began to see that Spirit is always accurate, true, and perfect. As the infinite expression of Spirit, I was spiritual and could manifest only the same accuracy, truth, and perfection.