Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health:

While respecting all that is good in the Church or out of it, one’s consecration to Christ is more on the ground of demonstration than of profession.  In conscience, we cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we are enable to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.                                   

What I am kean on learning about from fellow Christian Scientists is how specifically and personally they are utilizing Christ’s teachings in their daily lives.

For example, during a particularly difficult period of my early life, my parents were divorcing, my mother had been incarcerated in a mental hospital diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, my best friend was away in Germany as an exchange student, and I was struggling with very strong feelings that I was a homosexual… as I said, a particularly difficult period of my life, and, to boot, I knew nothing of Christian Science as yet.

Enough setup, well… one bit more:  It was getting on toward Christmas.  Out of nowhere the “spiritual sense”, and I truly knew nothing of “spiritual sense” then, the “spiritual sense” of the angel message “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men” dawned on my thought.  I mean it filled me up, dispelled depression, lifted me, and, even better, inspired me.

I immediately went about drawing and painting Christmas cards to send to everyone in my family, many with the Prophetic message “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people…”  I started making Christmas ornaments as a present for my mother thinking ahead to the time when she would be discharged with a clean bill of health, as indeed she was.

The wonderful bouyancy of that spiritual perception carried me over many hurdles for quite a while to come.  Mind you, this was all before Christian Science was manifest in my life, and yet I am certain it was and is Christian Science to this day.

At any rate, these are the types of things that I enjoy hearing.  We all have them.  Our lives are full of them, and they are full of substance and meaning.

Reflecting Love in love,

Andrew Gustafson