Ahhh... just right!
My daughter came out of her bedroom complaining, “This outfit is too big! This one is too small!”
I laughed as a familiar fairy tale came to thought: “This porridge is too hot! This porridge is too cold! Ahh, this porridge is just right,” said Goldilocks.
I smiled to myself, realizing that I’d had days like that as well. But through my study of the Bible and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, I’ve come to realize that in God’s universe, there is never “too” of anything. Everything is more than just right – it is perfect! And learning more of this spiritual reality brings a sense of balance and order in our lives, including through physical healing.
Many years ago, I had a growth under my eyelid. At first it was small, but over time it grew and was quite noticeable. We might say I had “too much” matter.
So I prayed about this issue, starting with the biblical idea that we are created spiritually, in the image of God. Science and Health defines God as Love, Life, Truth, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle – synonyms for God based in the Bible. Attributes such as compassion, vitality, faithfulness, and so on – which express each of these aspects of the divine nature – are spiritual qualities that have nothing to do with physicality. And as the image of God, Spirit, our true identity is not material. Rather, we are spiritual, reflecting everything that originates from our heavenly Father-Mother.
As Science and Health puts it, using “man” to refer to all of us as God’s children: “Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness.... Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas;...” (p. 475).
I reasoned that a “compound idea of God” can’t have “too much” or “too little” of anything. Nothing can be overactive or inactive. Rather, God expresses limitlessly in us qualities such as beauty, purity, harmony, and health, in perfect balance.
Through prayer I grew in my understanding of who I am as a child of divine Love, and also actively looked for Godlike qualities in others as well. And as I did this, the lump simply disappeared.
But the lesson stayed.
Physical problems often seem to revolve around “too much” and “too little” scenarios – too little exercise or sleep, too many years under our belt. However, in the light of God’s sustaining power over all creation, we always have exactly what we need at every moment, including health, supply, and peace.
A biblical example that illustrates this is when the Israelites were traveling from Egypt, where they’d been enslaved, to the Promised Land of freedom. They were in the desert, where there was little food or water. But God met their need; an abundance of quails emerged, and breadlike items they called “manna” appeared as well (see Exodus 16:11-18).
Moses commanded that each person should have a certain measure of manna (an “omer”). Some families gathered more than others depending on the number in their family. And what they found was that “he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.” The portions were just right!
Whatever we truly need is already ours, in “just right” proportions. God’s limitless love can never be not enough. Life is always filled with all that is necessary to make it Life, because Life is God. Divine Mind is never in short supply or overactive because God is ever conscious and intelligent.
Everything God provides is not only just right, it is perfect – and through prayer we can experience that perfect care in our everyday lives.
