The perfect fit
Originally appeared online in the teen series Your Healings - December 5, 2023
Although I thought my intended new style fit who I was, I actually felt uncomfortable focusing so much on myself—though I wasn’t exactly sure why. But I would soon find out.
Growing up, I’d attended a Christian Science Sunday School, where I’d learned that my identity was spiritual and that I’m the reflection of God. Now, as I continued my study of Christian Science, I learned more about what that actually means. I started to value my individuality as defined not by me but by God. I learned that my individuality is distinct, loved, and complete. As this spiritual sense of identity dawned, I began to focus less on myself and instead looked for ways to love others. This led to an opportunity to work at a crisis center halfway house. I also began attending both a local Christian Science Sunday School and the Christian Science organization meetings on campus. I had a deepening desire to feel closer to my Father-Mother God.
Becoming more conscious of the great worth of our spiritual identity inevitably leads to fuller freedom to be who we are.
I learned that becoming more conscious of the great worth of our spiritual identity, our individuality as God’s valued child, inevitably leads to fuller freedom to be who we are. To me, this means beginning to know ourselves as God knows us: beautiful, good, and loved. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures speaks to our spiritual individuality in this passage: “Man is not absorbed in Deity, and man cannot lose his individuality, for he reflects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, solitary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all substance” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 259).
A lot of factors in our lives may lead us to think that we need to be focused on ourselves and shape our own identity. Or, if we are part of or lumped into a group, we might feel defined by others and robbed of our individuality. But there is a third option: We can turn to a view of ourselves that’s fully defined by God. We can be completely satisfied in the understanding that we belong to and express Spirit, another name for God. This includes both sparkling individuality and meaningful relationships that prove we are part of God’s family. It also includes a feeling of peace and the assurance that our identity is just right already. So while we can always discover more about who we are, there’s nothing we need to add to our identity and nothing that can ever be taken away from it.
This might go without saying, but it wasn’t long before I ditched the too-big shoes and coat. Thanks to what I’d learned in Christian Science, I’d found something that fit me much better.
