No more worrisome ‘what ifs’

It’s easy to become stymied by what we don’t know, and to let our thoughts wander in “what ifs” – imagining and worrying about what’s happening or might happen.

Thankfully, there is something we can know right now that can free us from those “what ifs” and get us reasoning in a way that can move us all forward safely and securely. It’s embodied in what Christ Jesus taught and practiced. Referring to Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy wrote this arresting statement in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”: “Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe” (p. 313).

“Scientific”? How could Mrs. Eddy have come to that amazing conclusion? Well, it wasn’t guesswork. It came to her as a revelation from God that He is the universal divine Principle – the eternal Truth, Life, and Love of all creation – and that Jesus proved this through his healing works. In this divine Science, man’s (everyone’s) true identity is the eternal, spiritual reflection of the one perfect, unchangeable, universal Principle.

As the Psalmist declared, “God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours” (Psalms 62:11, 12, New Living Translation). God imparts to receptive human consciousness the fact that He, infinite good, is the only power. Therefore, evil, which appears as dis-ease in various forms, has no power whatsoever.

Knowing God, good, as the only power, and reasoning with our thought anchored in this truth, can free us from the pitfalls of worrisome “what ifs” brought on by fear of the unknown. This is the divine Science, or Christian Science, that Jesus knew and that enabled him to heal the sick and reform the sinning.

It enables us also to know what is true. And this spiritual knowledge enables us to reason from the foundation of divine Truth’s infinite power, and in this way to heal. Sin and disease cannot withstand Truth’s protecting and healing power.

With divine Truth and Love working in us, each one of us can naturally love God and humanity enough to put our foot down on – fervently stop engaging in – worrisome “what ifs.” We can let our thoughts be tenderly and solidly anchored in God’s laws of redeeming and healing love and let this divine Principle redirect, guide, and govern our reasoning, our hearts, and our experience.

Here’s one of many examples from my own experience. While I was expecting a child, I was exposed in my neighborhood to German measles. I was aware that German measles was considered a danger to a developing fetus, so I gave serious attention to establishing in my thoughts and prayers that disease has no power to travel from person to person, because it has no God-given power to either exist or harm.

My reasoning wasn’t an intellectual exercise. It was a deep and holy prayer of recognizing divine Love, God, as the only cause and creator, incapable of creating anything unlike Love. With my thought anchored in the truth that divine Love fills all space, it became clear to me that disease has no creator or space to exist – and therefore, no power to harm.

My thought became filled with love for my neighbor and my unborn child, while joyously knowing that God alone is always in control of His loved creation. I knew for a certainty that God’s love was all that could be communicated from one of His children to another. The neighbor soon recovered. There were no more cases of German measles in the neighborhood. And I gave birth to a very healthy baby boy.

What I’ve learned through the many years of my study and practice of Christian Science is that when our thought is anchored in the love of God as the only power, His healing love is felt far and wide.

As we embrace the all-power of divine Truth and Love in our prayers for humanity, God’s healing love enters the atmosphere of collective human consciousness. It lifts humanity, including us, into clear, worry-free thinking, realizing that we are secure in the protecting and healing embrace of divine Love. It purifies the atmosphere of human thought for the benefit of everyone.

At all times, humanity needs this kind of prayerful reasoning and love from each of us. In this way, instead of feeling helpless, we can be confident that we are reflecting the divine Love that protects and heals.

Adapted from an editorial published in the May 25, 2020, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.