Making Changes

THE world seems to be in a perpetual state of change, with stability a rare commodity. And the incredible rapidity and quantity of these changes can be very unsettling. Yet in the midst of all this apparent fluidity we can find stability in the constant, changeless spiritual fact that God, the eternal Father-Mother of all, is unchanging in His capacity to create only good. And He is the only true cause, creating all that really exists.

What the senses perceive is limited at best. And the sometimes frightening changes in material conditions they report don't have the substance and authority of Spirit, God, to support them. When we turn our thought to God and listen for His guidance and calming love we find that, in fact, we aren't compelled merely to accept the false perception of discordant change. One name for this listening is prayer.

Christ Jesus' disciples once asked him to teach them how to pray. His lesson to them came in the form of what we now call the Lord's Prayer. This prayer, found in the sixth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, shows us the practicality of calling on God for help and healing right here in our daily lives.

I've found the line that reads "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven particularly helpful when I'm praying about changes. To me this indicates that God and His children are not separated, but that, because we are His offspring, we are constantly in His presence and immediately able to feel His loving embrace. So when we're facing a lot of changes, we can turn to our loving Father, God. And we can expect to experience freedom, health, and abundance when we're obedient to His commands.

Turning to God, Spirit, doesn't bring Him down to earth; instead, we learn to lift our view of reality to the genuine, spiritual concept, and this enlarged understanding corrects whatever needs healing. Recognizing that God is "a very present help in trouble, as the Psalmist puts it, has helped many in times of major changes in their lives. For example, when we moved across the country to a new home, my family was confronted by an unfamiliar climate and--to us--strange customs, among other things. Ad d

ed to this was the fact that housing costs in the new area were nearly double what they had been in our old location.

This was certainly a time when we needed to see that God's ever-present and all-powerful love is reliable and practical without exception! Our family prayed daily for the ability to see God's kingdom "in earth, as it is in heaven. As we prayed, we began to see something of what Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, means when she says in her sermon Christian Healing, "God is All, and in all: that finishes the question of a good and a bad side to existence.

We found a home in our new location. And each challenge related to the move was resolved. Trust in God gradually replaced our fears. Though our new home was far more costly than the old, every detail of the purchase went smoothly.

This experience has strengthened my willingness to rely on the immutable nature of divine Spirit, God. It showed me that the practical stability of God's care is available here and now. As a much-loved hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal expresses it:

-In heavenly Love abiding,

- No change my heart shall fear . . . .

God's infinite goodness is unchangeable. Everyone, everywhere, can reach out to feel the security of God's love and the calm that comes when we trust His power.