Even young children learn to draw trees: maybe some lacy swirls of green at the top for leaves, a thick brown trunk, and upside-down triangles at the bottom for the essential roots. Stenciling one of these early pictures of mine, my mother turned it into a needlepoint pillow that graced our living room couch for decades. I’m sure the tree itself lasted much longer than that.

In a poem celebrating a majestic oak on a mountaintop, Mary Baker Eddy —who discovered the practical, healing Science of Christianity—recognized the enduring spiritual message of the tree:

When we’re confronted with any form of turmoil—the swirling winds of politics, an economic drought, a debilitating event or illness—a single tree can remind us of what we need, not just to endure but to thrive. And it always begins with our roots.

A tree grows in many kinds of good soil. So can we. In the poem about the oak, the soil is love. When we start with the fundamental spiritual fact that God is Love, as the Bible says so succinctly (see I John 4:8), we realize how God’s infinite, unchanging love for each of us nourishes our own ability to express genuine love to others, whatever their receptivity to it. We’re sinking deep roots into the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5–7), blessing those who curse us, praying for those who “despitefully use [us],” and going the extra mile—all spiritually grounded responses that run contrary to the pervasive self-justification that would divide us. Like trees in a forest, we find we can grow side by side with those holding vastly different outlooks and priorities when we’re firmly rooted in divine Love. We’re nourished by the same soil of kindness, generosity, and affection.

The peace of being deeply rooted in my faith in God’s goodness held firm.

Jesus lived this sermon himself, courageously confronting entrenched traditions and opinions that shackle humanity to endless divisiveness and suffering. He rebuked whatever wasn’t spiritually productive, and he compassionately healed acute illnesses and chronic conditions. These were not inexplicable miracles of recovery any more than the fruit of a tree is a mysterious outcome. They flowed naturally from the Science of Christ—the divine laws of God, which Jesus practiced and encouraged us to live by. He said, “I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do” (John 14:12, Common English Bible). 

To believe in this way isn’t a shallow thing. It requires us to go deeper. A Christian Science practitioner I knew had followed this line of practical, prayer-based healing for many decades. Turning to God for everything in every situation was so natural to her. She told me that spiritual understanding grows in the soil of faith. Both are needed for the fruit of healing. Faith in God as all good, the only power, and ever present nurtures the scientific understanding of divine law. This law logically concludes that every disease and deformity in our human bodies and societies must inevitably yield to the spiritual fact of our eternal wholeness and completeness as God’s children, the offspring of Spirit. And spiritual understanding grows more robust the deeper its roots in faith.

Many summers ago, we were expecting a visit from family members who were quite hostile to the whole idea of a spiritual approach to healing. In the weeks leading up to that visit, a spider bite on my leg grew considerably worse despite my initial efforts to pray about it. At first I wondered what they would say about the distorted appearance of my leg. But as I prayed to gain God’s perspective on this visit, I felt sweetly released from the weight of human judgment or trying to win human approval. The peace of being deeply rooted in my faith in God’s goodness held firm. I gained a fresh sense of divine Love governing all creation harmoniously—spiders and family members included! With this deeper understanding, I watched the symptoms disappear within the day, and the family visit was one of the best we’d ever had. 

Deep roots. They withstand all kinds of adversity, allowing all of us to flourish together.

Robin Hoagland, Guest Editorial Writer