Year of Spiritual Growth

I would like to express gratitude for another year of spiritual growth, for myself and also my children. I was fortunate enough to be second reader at my church, completing my term last January and this bought many blessings (as well as some challenges). It was great to be able to serve in this way and it certainly allowed me to get to know each of my fellow church members and appreciate them all individually.

I was also very fortunate to be involved with last years Focus event, held at Newton Rigg in the Lake District. My two children also attended, as did my wife who is a part of the main Focus committee. The event, for young people between the age of 16 and 30 interested in Christian Science, lasted for 11 days, and included 7 Christian Science lectures and many different activities and craft sessions. The spiritual inspiration and joy of that event is a very dear memory to me. The lecturers could also include a bit more ‘meat’ in their talks, and talk for a lot longer – really addressing some of the issues facing young people today. This had a profound effect on many of the young people there, ranging from them committing to mark up the Lesson in their books (rather than only using full-text lessons), and finding a new dedication to Christian Science practice in their lives (which included such things as deciding to resist peer pressure around drinking). I’m so grateful to see the beneficial effects that such an event as Focus can have on so many young people.

I’m also particularly grateful for my own two children and their commitment to Christian Science. My daughter is living at home and teaching in Sunday School and my son is at Principia.

I am also grateful for a number of healings during the year, not only physical healings but also of work situations and relationships.

One example of a relationship healing was with my mother. We have always kept in contact and also visited her on a regular basis, but these visits didn’t seem to bring much happiness or joy on either side. Before I left to visit her I would regularly remind myself that she too was God’s perfect idea and that I just needed to express love to make mum feel loved– but often to no avail. The healing came when I recognised that Love is God in expression – it wasn’t something that I had to ‘channel’ through myself to my mum. We all were being loved by God every minute, and thus couldn’t help but to share love with each one other. Since this revelation my visits to my mother have been more blessed and more blessing.

The physical healing that I remember most this year is one of a physical pain in my right shoulder. This made it very difficult to sleep due to the discomfort, and also restricted the movement of my arm. In the Lesson that week was the quote about the Pharisees and their rules and how they would “bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matthew 23:4)

I spoke to a practitioner and we recognised that this probably related to a false sense of responsibility connected to some issues at work. We prayed with the passage, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mathew 11: 29 (to ;), 30). Within a short time the pain reduced significantly and the full movement of my arm was restored. But I did still have some discomfort, which went on for a couple of days. The practitioner then asked if she needed to keep on praying with me or would I prefer to pray about this myself. I decided to pray by myself – and almost immediately the discomfort left. This wasn’t because my prayers were more effective than the practitioner’s (in fact I found out from the practitioner afterwards that she had already felt that my healing was complete) – it’s just that I hadn’t seemed to accept the full healing myself whilst I still had the practitioner working for me.

I’m so grateful for all these experiences and the lessons I have learnt.