Migratory birds and Mind’s law of movement

Many migratory birds fly through Eilat, Israel, which is home to the only overland bridge between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Eilat provides a resting place for many bird species as they prepare for a challenging flight across the hostile environment of the Sahara desert.

Researchers are working to understand how these birds know instinctively to get to this narrow sanctuary. Is it possible that an infinite intelligence is guiding their flight?

Through the lens of Christian Science, we see that divine intelligence – God, Mind – always provides what is needed for Mind’s creation. As a natural part of the birds’ identity, they are assured of their purpose and right place, and during the journey, Mind’s effortless guidance is firm and fixed, fully communicated and right for every circumstance. As Mary Baker Eddy states in her primary work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind” (p. 379).

What birds know instinctively, we can also know and experience as God’s beloved children, since each one of us is the spiritual creation of this perfect Mind. The Bible gives many examples of movement in accordance with Mind’s design. Moses proved the power and safety of divinely directed activity when he led the children of Israel through a dry seabed as divine Mind parted the Red Sea. Jesus’ clear understanding of Mind’s control calmed the turmoil of the wind and waves during a storm on the Sea of Galilee and proved immobility to be powerless when he healed the man at the pool of Bethesda.

Christian Science teaches that God, good, is the Principle controlling our purpose, place, health, and sufficiency every moment. The law of Principle blesses our days with right activity, purpose, and employment in perfect harmony and unfoldment. Science and Health says, “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (p. 283).

There have been many occasions when I’ve responded to the naturalness and inevitability of Mind’s government. Some years ago, I woke up with a back problem. A fellow church member visited me and suggested that we go for a walk, but how could I?

Leaning on what I know to be true of Mind’s law of movement, I was able, with difficulty, to get dressed and leave my apartment. As I took in the magnificent spring while reaching out to God in prayer, I saw bees buzzing around in purposeful activity, and I remembered hearing that at one time it was believed that according to laws of flight, bees shouldn’t be able to fly.

These days, scientists do understand the physics behind a bee’s flight. But the idea that struck me that afternoon was that a bee has always known instinctively how to fly and that neither misunderstanding of so-called physical laws nor human opinions can impede its natural activity.

Similarly, I thought, my divine right of movement was inviolable and intact. By the end of the walk, I was able to move normally and without pain. This experience was decades ago, and I’ve never had another problem with my back.

This healing occurred in the middle of exam time during my first year of law school. The next exam was constitutional law and, because of the back problem, I had missed a critical day of studying. Constitutional law is a big subject and there was an enormous amount of information to process and understand.

I prayed, knowing that Mind was providing direction and understanding every moment. I became peaceful. Then, possible essay questions flashed into thought. I humbly trusted what had been revealed to me and studied the material required to answer them.

We were permitted to bring to the exam any papers we chose. I brought my fully written answers to the questions, my course notes, and the class textbook. It was no surprise to me that the questions on the exam were the same questions I had prepared for in response to God’s direction. In a class of 120 students, I received one of two A’s awarded on the exam.

This experience proved to me the power of knowing what God, creative Mind, can do and trusting the God-inspired intuitions flowing to each of us at every moment.

I’ve learned so much from what is instinctively known and practiced by both birds and bees. Their experience has so much to teach us about the ordered activity of the universe and the infinite Principle that is always benevolently governing every aspect of our lives.

Adapted from an article published in the April 7, 2025, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.