Drought conditions and earnest prayer

As I prayed, the sky became overcast and it began to rain.

Originally published for the Christian Science Sentinel online on January 12, 2023

While on vacation last August, I drove across Texas, which has been struck with severe drought conditions for the past several months. On top of that, nearly every day during the previous few weeks had featured temperatures over a hundred degrees. As I drove through the lower Panhandle, it was even hotter than when I had left Dallas, where I live. One service station could not let me use their restroom because they didn’t have enough water.

I have had many healings through the study of Christian Science, and although they included gaining freedom from severe physical challenges, the real healing was in the spiritualization of thought—in attaining the higher understanding that God is infinite Mind and governs the universe in perfect harmony. Knowing this, I reasoned that drought was no more real than any sickness I had dealt with. If all that is real is Mind’s creation, then harmony has to be universal. 

A biblical description of universal harmony is “the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). To demonstrate this kingdom with respect to drought in North Texas is to apply God’s law of harmony, which corrects the false concept, drought, wherever it appears. If the spiritual fact is true in North Texas, it is true anywhere—and vice versa. It would be wrong to feel deprived or envious because it rains “over there” but not “over here.” Neither is it right to pray for rain “over here” and be content that it does not rain “over there.” That is not God’s law of universal harmony. Christian Science rejects the notion that God’s kingdom is local or regional. Harmony operates locally because it is universal. Since God’s law is universal, the harmony that exists in one place is the result of a universal law that reliably produces harmony everywhere.

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