There cannot be peace in our homes, our local communities, our country, or our world unless we, as individuals, are at peace. As the second verse of “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” Hymn 521 in the Christian Science Hymnal: Hymns 430–603, says, “Let there be peace on earth, / and let it begin with me” (by Jill Jackson, © Jan-Lee Music 1955, 1983). But it must be a spiritual peace. 

If our peace is dependent on our circumstances, it can easily be interrupted or destroyed, as both the Bible and the writings of the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, make clear. The Bible says, “To be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6), and Mrs. Eddy states, “The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 506). This spiritual apprehension, or spiritual-mindedness, has no knowledge of conflict—not because it is ignorant or naive or expresses a callous disregard, but because it understands that God, Spirit, is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent and that man is God’s reflection, made in His image and likeness, as the first chapter of the Bible tells us.

I felt such love for this innocent baby. Within moments, the congestion went away.