Awakening to good

“What if everything is actually OK?”

This question was arresting. Things sure didn’t feel OK. In fact, they seemed rather hopeless with no resolution in sight. But as I prayed, the question came suddenly – and stopped the spiraling. I saw new possibilities open up. It felt like my prayer had been answered.

When we’re mired in some difficulty, it might feel counterintuitive to consider that all is actually well. It might even seem downright ignorant or that we are burying our head in the sand. Yet studying Christian Science, we begin to see things more from the standpoint of spiritual sense – “a conscious, constant capacity to understand God” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 209) – and we start to glimpse that the evidence of the physical senses isn’t the reliable testimony it claims to be.

When we discern life more spiritually, we begin to understand Spirit as the source of all good, the rock-solid foundation that is God. Knowing our lives are secure in God – the divine Principle, Love – we awaken to new, expansive thinking.

To human sense, circumstances may look bleak or options may feel limited. Yet Spirit, God, shows us infinite possibilities of good. Turning thought to God, our perspective shifts to what infinite Spirit sees, and we break through the dream of life as material. New views surprise us.

A story in the Bible shows how Spirit awakens us to see the reality of God’s love and care, right where there seems to be hopelessness, difficulty, or danger. Syria was at war with Israel, and Elisha, a man of God, had been helping the king of Israel evade attack. This enraged the king of Syria, who sent an army to surround the place where Elisha was sleeping and capture him.

Elisha’s servant woke and, perceiving the imminent danger surrounding them, he cried out, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” But Elisha understood that divine Love’s protection was already with them – an ever-present power. And that protection could only be perceived by an inspired outlook.

So, “Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw....” That is, he saw past what the material senses were claiming and discerned the spiritual reality (see II Kings 6:8-23, New International Version). Elisha’s prayers didn’t make something happen; they awakened the spiritual sense of his servant to see what was already going on – that they were protected and secure in God.

Not only did Elisha and his servant escape capture, but they found a creative solution that ended the war for a time: “So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel” (II Kings 6:23).

Christ Jesus gave us the ultimate model, showing us a life lived from a spiritually illumined standpoint. The Christ, the divinity of Jesus, made reality apparent as divine goodness. Where others saw only a mortal distortion of life – as disease, immorality, lack, or even death – he perceived the reality of man’s unopposed spiritual perfection, and this helped lift the thoughts of those around him. This activity of Christ brought healing.

Our worries, fears, and doubts – even our hardships – don’t change the fact that God is with us. The task is to stick to the true idea, Christ, which voices good alone, and let this awaken us to the already-existing divine righteousness, peace, and health in our lives and in the world.

I know it was Christ, the divine message from God in consciousness, that awakened me to ever-present good as I prayed. My struggle was replaced with peace and a secure sense of quiet joy. And as I saw the way open to do the thing I was endeavoring to do, the obstacles were no longer there.

Christ shows us evidence that life is truly spiritual, and this deepens our understanding that God, infinite good, is already supreme. It may feel daunting to realize even a small degree of this reality, and it may take moral courage to humbly recognize God’s power amidst a majority view of the apparent ability of evil to wreak havoc in the world. Yet what if the good the world needs is already at hand?

Starting from the basis of God’s unending good, we see more potential for this good in our prayers for global issues. Such prayer establishes the foundation for good not only in individual lives but around the world – with ever-fresh, unfolding possibilities.

Adapted from an editorial published in the August 2024 issue of The Christian Science Journal.