What would you do if you saw a shabby, dirty, drunken man staggering through a city park, yelling obscenities at the top of his lungs? My immediate response was to turn away in total disgust. Then I remembered that I was Christian Scientist. As a committed follower of Christ Jesus I had enlisted to love my neighbor. Disgust and Christian love are opposites.

Deep down, don't we all yearn to reach out and help a friend who is in trouble, a relative who might be in the hospital, or a drunk stumbling down the street? We can, of course, give encouragement and comfort to those who are struggling. Sometimes a visit, a card, or a few kind words can help and cheer them. It's often frustrating, however, to feel there is nothing really substantial we can do to help them be healed—or is there?

Although we may wish the troubled people we know or come in contact with were having help through prayer in Christian Science, we can't give them treatment unless it is specifically requested. (To do so without permission would be to invade an individual's privacy and would not be in accord with this Science.) But our spiritual understanding of man's inherent and inviolable perfection can help bring healing. We don't have to stand by helplessly, wishing there was something we could do.

There is something we can do. The place to begin is with our own thinking. Are we taking in what we see about an individual—sickness, injury, alcoholism, poverty? Are we consenting to these errors as possibilities in God's perfect kingdom? (Isn't this exactly what I was doing when I first saw the drunk?) Or are we holding fast to the correct concept of man as healthy, free, blessed with spiritual resources?

When we acknowledge what is really there—that is, right where a sick or drunk mortal seems to be there is spiritual man, who is whole, upright, and free—then our thought is contributing to healing. Our thinking is important and can have significant consequences for those with whom we come in contact. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, without a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument, has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases." ^{Rudimental Divine Science, p. 9;}

There is scriptural authority for seeing man spiritually. For instance, we read in I John, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us." ^{I John 3:1;} Are we, then, to behold sickness, debilitation, despair? No, we should behold God's love, which is evident everywhere. Since God is Love and God is omnipresent, it follows that God's love is ever present. Even where there might be a false, negative picture of man as a helpless victim of his environment, an incurable disease, or an accident—right there is God's love being expressed. Indeed, right there God is expressing His love!

When we see an unlovely picture appearing as man, it is helpful to understand that this is only a false claim, a lie about man. In recognizing that this isn't the true picture, we are better able to see the spiritual facts of man—the man God created. When we discern these facts, magnify the good we see, dismiss the negative appearances from our thought, then we are helping to heal by bringing God's infinite healing power to bear on the situation.

As soon as I recognized that I could help in this situation in the park, that I didn't have to just stand there feeling frustrated because I couldn't do anything, I began to look for evidence of God's love for His creation. At first there was little I could see on the surface that would even hint at God's omnipresence. I looked for evidences of intelligence, love, freedom, dominion, and other God-given qualities that I knew to be expressed by man—God's man, that is. To be honest, I at first didn't see how this apparently miserable individual could be expressing God in any way. But I continued my search for spiritual qualities.

Finally I discovered one. He expressed life. This man was alive, and therefore reflected Life, God. As I stood there in the crowd on that hot summer evening, silently grateful that I could see God being expressed, that I could see God's presence right where there seemed to be a derelict, I suddenly noticed that he was lurching in my direction. He stopped short right in front of me and said, "Lady, what are you doing? Praying?"

Taken by surprise, I muttered an affirmative answer. He then straightened up and said without the slightest slur in his voice: "Well, thanks very much. I haven't felt this good for months! Keep it up, will ya?" And he walked away—apparently sober—and in a perfectly straight line.

What had happened? I hadn't prayed for him. I had simply corrected what I was taking in as real about him. Instead of seeing a drunk mortal, I found God expressing Himself in life. As I magnified this, was grateful for it, refused to accept the erroneous suggestions, a changed picture followed.

We can help those in need, even though they might not be Christian Scientists or want Science treatment. We can be sure that our own thinking is taking in what God has created, instead of what our senses falsely testify to as being true. Mrs. Eddy sums it up beautifully when she says, "Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individuality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more improve health or morals, than holding in thought the form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a landscape." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 62.}