A healing over the holidays
I was swamped. I had finals to finish, a dorm room to pack, a responsibility as a resident assistant to get students off campus for winter break, and about a million other tasks—and a phone that wasn’t working reliably.
But after getting through all of this, I would finally be able to spend time with my family over the holidays. This particular year felt special because I was getting some one-on-one time with my grandma before the rest of my family arrived. To me, Christmas has always been about spending time with loved ones. It can be fun to give gifts that I’ve picked out or made, but being together is always the best gift.
By the time I boarded my flight home, I’d finished everything on my to-do list but was feeling completely burned out. I was looking forward to the long flight to unwind, rest, and reset. But before the plane even took off, I noticed that something in my back felt out of whack. I couldn’t move my neck or back, and my immediate thought was, “Really? After all this, I can’t just relax?”
By the time I boarded my flight, I’d finished everything on my to-do list but was feeling completely burned out.
After my short-lived pity party, I reached out to a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. This felt like a natural step, because I’d had many healings through Christian Science, often through the prayers of a practitioner. To my relief, my text went through, despite my phone’s issues, and I quickly received a reply with the comforting reminder that I am God’s loved child and completely safe.
The practitioner also shared this passage from Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “You say, ‘Toil fatigues me.’ But what is this me? Is it muscle or mind? Which is tired and so speaks? Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non-intelligent” (pp. 217–218). I especially appreciated this idea because it helped me realize that, while the issue may have looked like a back problem, what I was really dealing with was a thought that needed adjusting. I realized that the feeling of having been exhausted by school was the real problem I needed to address. Instead of a change in my body, the real change that needed to happen was understanding more clearly what was true about me from a spiritual perspective.
One way I do this is by focusing on spiritual qualities—such as peace, patience, and joy—that make up my true identity as the expression of God, Spirit. Since these qualities come from God, they’re always part of who I am, but focusing on them helps me keep my thoughts on what’s spiritually true and see myself as God sees me. In this situation, it strengthened me to think of myself this way, and I continued praying with these ideas as I finished my travels and arrived at my grandma’s house.
I’m so grateful to know that we can find both peace and joy during the holidays, regardless of whether we’re busy or quiet.
Over the next few days, I made progress in my mobility while also spending time with my grandma and, later, the rest of my family. The love I felt around me, sourced in God and expressed by my family members, spiritually fueled me.
By Christmas Eve, I was completely healed and able to go for a run—a true expression of my God-given strength and freedom. I felt so embraced by my divine Father-Mother’s love, and I knew God was with me during this healing.
I’m so grateful to know that we can find both peace and joy during the holidays, regardless of whether we’re busy or quiet. These qualities don’t come and go depending on what’s going on in our lives. Because they come from God, they’re always present in each of us.
