Where Thought Leads

'Oh no," I thought. I had just taken a wrong turn, and was on the freeway going north. I wanted to be "over there," going south. All I could do was keep driving until I reached the next exit allowing access to the southbound lanes.

That wrong turn could be corrected easily enough. But what about wrong turns in life? When it seems things are going astray, do we need time, education, or another person to aid us in getting on the right track? One can take many different paths. At times of loneliness or failure, we might be tempted to think a different parent or partner, job or location, is what is needed to help us get things right. But is this so?

Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ, who brought hope to the world, proved that the harshest human experiences cannot deter us from turning to God for direction. Jesus did not seek happiness and health by means of the world, but by knowing who God is. He brought to light the revolutionary concept that God and man are perfect. He showed that this fact allows us access to fulfilled lives. Jesus followed God, and he set an example everyone can follow in this time.

The essence of what Jesus expressed is the Christ. The Christ is the true idea of God-it guides human consciousness to good, here and now. Praying, understanding God, doing good to others, expressing unselfishness, all keep this guidance alive in our thoughts.

Reviewing the life of Jesus, I observed he did not complain about his experiences. He never said, "If only I had done it differently." He never looked backward. He proved that God's control is evident in our lives as we know Him better and obey Him.

Jesus never feared sickness, disaster, or death, because he knew that God is supreme. That His good is omnipotent. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). This might mean to you and me that as we understand the foundation upon which Jesus lived, we can find the Truth, which he expressed, leading us in sure, meaningful ways.

Praying to see and express the nature of goodness-mercy, grace, and purity- we find more good in our lives. This expression can never be stopped. The more firmly we hold to good thoughts from God, the more we'll find God, who is Truth, leading us.

Over a century ago a woman named Mary Baker Eddy went through times of sickness and trouble. She knew there must be something better, and searched for it in the Bible. She could have complained about the sadness in her life, but instead she persisted in turning to God for spiritual answers. She discovered the path leading to God to be very exact, and found that it is a path of spiritual understanding. It may be narrow, but it is not, as some have said, mysterious. She learned that God is good and produces no evil. She proved that following divine guidance is not merely a worthwhile activity; it also brings health. Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures explains Christian Science, her discovery of God's law that can be practiced today.

Once my finger became swollen with a hard lump. I could not get my wedding ring off, or make a fist. My way of dealing with this as a Christian Scientist was to look to God for healing. What came to me was this sentence from Science and Health: "If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you can at once change your course and do right. Matter can make no opposition to right endeavors against sin or sickness, for matter is inert, mindless" (p. 253). This was of help to me, for I had learned through study of the Bible and Science and Health that God is all-inclusive, yet unconfining. I realized that I had not been acting as though I believed this. I had been thinking that I possessed certain people as my own. But all belongs to God.

Letting God direct my thoughts, I began yielding to the fact that those people belonged to God because they reflected Him. Observing in them the expression of strength, agility, joy, beauty, I saw God expressed. This may not seem pertinent at first, but prayer had directed me to see it. And the lump lessened and completely disappeared within a few days; I had full use of the hand.

When we seek God's guidance and are receptive to it, our own thoughts-and lives-improve.