After leaving home at 19, I lived in dormitories and shared houses for nearly a decade. Although I enjoyed the friendships and community that developed in these living arrangements, when I began working full-time as a Christian Science nurse after college, I felt a growing desire and need for a more private, peaceful, and structured home. I hope the following account will help others who are also searching for a new experience of home. 

As a result of many years of finding that prayer brings practical solutions to challenges, I felt motivated to pray about what home represents when seen from a spiritual perspective. I found comfort and hope in ideas from the Bible and its companion book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. 

Later, when I was away from my shared home and working in some challenging circumstances, I came across Hymn 497 in the Christian Science Hymnal, which begins,