In my career as an interior designer, I've often recalled a quote by the celebrated 19th-century designer, William Morris: "Have nothing in your home which you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

As a practical matter, working with a client to remove anything from a room that doesn't meet these two criteria is sometimes a valuable preliminary to achieving a more ordered, less cluttered atmosphere. Then new items can be carefully chosen that result in a room filled with beauty and usefulness.

Similarly, through the study of Christian Science, I've learned to remove from thought whatever is unnecessary or undesirable. Mary Baker Eddy's counsel in her book The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany has been a beacon to me: "... keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them" (p. 210). Clearing out mental tchotchke—thoughts that are not useful to spiritual growth or well-being, as well as those that aren't beautiful or God-related—has for me opened the way for an influx of ideas from divine Love. These ideas have brought harmony and healing to my life. This has meant replacing limited, material conceptions of health, resources, other people, and building on what is true spiritually. That passage continues: "... nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness."

One year during the Christmas holidays, both my daughter and I saw the uplifting, healing effect of removing anything from consciousness that wasn't in line with spiritual truth.

In my case, I had invited friends for dinner, and was serving fondue. The preparation consisted of boiling oil in a pot for guests to skewer and cook their own meat in. As I was bringing the pot to the table, the wooden handle loosened, and the scalding oil poured over my feet. Immediately, I remembered a fact I had learned—that accidents were no part of God's plan for His beloved children, and that there wasn't a moment when I was outside of His entirely good plan. I saw this spiritual fact clearly. Praying with this truth relieved the pain considerably, and with my friends rallying to my support, I was able to carry on with the evening.

Through the night, I continued to pray, and by morning, all lingering discomfort had completely disappeared. I was not able to move my feet, however, because of large blisters on my insteps.

The next day, my daughter arrived home from college. She was barely walking because of plantar warts on the bottoms of her feet. There had been an epidemic of the condition on her campus. So here we were with the holidays upon us, and both of us immobile!

One evening we were sitting in front of the fireplace, facing each other, and we came to a firm decision. Placing complete trust in God's power to heal, we each made a commitment to seeing the perfect, God-like nature of everyone, everywhere, including ourselves. With divine Love at the helm of all creation, what basis was there for thinking otherwise? We resolved to dispose of all unloving, unkind, or impure thoughts that each of us might be holding on to, and to think only thoughts of love. Whoever came to the door—the mailman, a delivery man, neighbors—we would love. In our respective prayers, we would actively embrace whoever came to mind with love.

This effort gained further inspiration from a statement in the book We Knew Mary Baker Eddy where Mary Baker Eddy is quoted as saying, "To live love, to manifest the very presence of Love, would heal everything" (p. 110). My daughter and I were steadfast, and committed "to live love."

Healing came very quickly. Within two days the blisters on my feet had disappeared, and I was able to wear my regular shoes. My daughter's feet also returned to normal, with no sign of the previous condition. We had a joyous holiday, feeling grateful for the restorative power of prayer.

The healing I had that Christmas, and other healings since, have shown me that removing erroneous thoughts to make room for God-inspired truth guarantees freedom from injury or disease, and brings out the beauty of His presence in our lives.

Carol Van Pelt
Red Bank, New Jersey

This was a remarkable healing for me. The warts had become quite painful, and I was unable to walk normally. When I arrived home for the Christmas vacation and talked with my mother, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to support each other's efforts for complete healing through prayer.

After just a few days of consistently praying, putting these spiritual concepts into practice, I saw the warts simply dry up and fall off my feet. And I learned a wonderful lesson on the power and presence of divine Love.

C. J. Van Pelt
San Francisco, California