I remember the moment well. I was a young adult, alone on a swing that looked out over Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas. It’s a large lake, and its vast stillness surrounded by majestic mountains brought peace to me. I was thinking about the allness of God and that this view reminded me of the everlasting qualities of infinity. Amid this grandeur, I felt small—yet at the same time significant. In that moment it was as if I saw the significance of everyone and everything as part of God’s creation. 

I thought of a line from a favorite hymn that says, “I touch the fringes of eternity,” (Violet Hay, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 64, © CSBD) and the command in the Bible’s book of Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God” (46:10). This was the day I finally embraced for myself the journey of becoming a student of Christian Science. 

Before that, I had attended Christian Science Sunday School and then church at the prompting of my grandmother, and I’m grateful for her encouragement. I also had a Sunday School teacher while I was in college who motivated me to join my local branch Church of Christ, Scientist. But both these steps were taken at the bidding of others. This moment on the swing was just God and me. It was a glorious moment that was most precious, and I suddenly became more curious. I wanted to know more about our Father-Mother God and Her creation, and the more I learned, the more I realized how much there was to know.