Skip to footer

Parsley learns about Love

No one – including pets – is beyond the reach of God’s healing, comforting love.

  • By Gay Bryant Flatt

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

Parsley was a beautiful black-and-white cat who lived down the road. But when his family had to move away, I took him in.

Poor Parsley. He didn’t like his new home, or the cat and dog who were living there already. He kept going back to his old house, and then I would have to go and fetch him home. When he did stay home, he mostly hid in the cupboard and only came out for meals. And one day I noticed that Parsley had a large lump on his ear.

In my study and practice of Christian Science, I’ve experienced and witnessed many healings through prayer. Most of the time this has involved people, but I’ve also prayed for my other pets, and they’ve had healings, too. So I knew I could pray for Parsley as well.

Parsley allowed me to pick him up. As I stroked him, I prayed by opening my heart to God, asking to see Parsley as God sees all of His creation – spiritual, unblemished, joyful. As I did, I felt the most overwhelming sense of love. It was a small moment, but it felt bigger than any love I’d ever felt before, so I knew it must come from God, who is divine Love itself. It was all-embracing, and I could feel that it included everyone, everywhere – even animals.

I felt very peaceful, knowing that divine Love takes care of its entire spiritual creation.

Parsley continued to sit quietly with me for a little while, then jumped down and went on his way.

The next day, Parsley’s ear was completely healed. It was like no bump had ever been there.

But something even bigger and better had happened. From then on, Parsley was loving and affectionate. No more hiding away in cupboards. No more running away to his old house. He had become one of the family, making friends with my other cat and dog and acting like he really belonged. He especially liked to sit on my lap when I prayed and read the weekly Bible Lesson found in the “Christian Science Quarterly.”

Parsley now knew he was truly loved, and he lived happily with us for many years.

Through prayer, each of us can feel the healing touch of divine Love and reflect it outward toward others. This brings change for the better.

Adapted from an article published in the Kids section of the June 14, 2021, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Enjoying this content?
Explore the power of gratitude with the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson – free online through December 31, 2024. Available in English, French, German, Spanish, and (new this year) Portuguese.
Read the Thanksgiving Lesson
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Parsley learns about Love
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2021/1022/Parsley-learns-about-Love
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe