NOTHING IMPERFECT COULD TAKE ROOT

RICK MCMANUS

Last May, I noticed a small bump under one of my eyes. In a matter of weeks, as this growth became enlarged and discolored, I became increasingly aware of its presence. It was unsightly, embarrassing, and annoying to me because I would be aware of it every time I blinked.

Each morning as I looked at myself in the mirror, I would touch this growth and be convinced that it was solidly rooted. Thankfully, no one mentioned it, if they did notice it.

At that time I was in the process of joining a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in La Jolla, California. As part of my preparation for church membership, I studied an article from the 1970s in the Sentinel. The writer had confronted the condition of a growth on her leg. She found she had a choice to make. Either she could believe that the growth was true about her, or she could rely on what the Bible said about her perfection as God's image and likeness (see Gen. 1:26). Only one of those two concepts was true about her. She chose to disbelieve that the growth could be a part of her spiritual, perfect being and to accept instead what the Bible explained about her as God's image. And through this dedicated prayer, she was able to heal this growth, which had been a concern for a long time. I was inspired by her example, but I wasn't sure I was up to the challenge.

As I stood in front of the mirror each morning, the evidence of this odd growth under my eye seemed undeniable. I would blink, grimace, and then touch it. This routine went on day after day for about a week. Each time, I would think about the article and how this person had dealt with the growth that confronted her.

Days went by, and I began to realize that I could not accept the growth's existence and deny its existence at the same time. I thought of the analogy of a mirage: When you look down the road, the mirage looks as though it's there, but it's not. I, too, would have to make a choice. I reasoned that if I was created in the image and likeness of God, who is Spirit and perfect in every way, then I as God's image must be the same—spiritual and perfect. Therefore, no abnormal growth could be part of that image. I couldn't see an imperfection, a lie about God's image, and claim that I was perfect at the same time. As I continued to reason this way, day after day, my conviction about my perfection grew in my thinking.

Then one morning about a week later, after I'd been praying in this way, I stood in front of the mirror. At this point, I was fully convinced that this growth was not real. That morning, I touched it for the last time, and the growth just fell onto my finger. I briefly looked at it before washing it down the drain. It had not left any mark whatsoever on my face.

Those days of praying to see my spiritual perfection as God's child had shown me that when imperfection was uprooted in my thought, then likewise, no imperfection could take root in my body.

RICK MCMANUS
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

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