Skip to footer

The most wonderful gift

As God’s children, we are immeasurably blessed – always.

  • By Liz Butterfield Wallingford

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

Have you ever received a gift that’s so special, so wonderful, that words aren’t sufficient to fully convey just how meaningful it is?

Maybe something came to mind immediately. But even if you’re thinking simply, “Nope,” it may be worth looking a bit deeper for a “Yes.”

That’s because we’re all recipients of what the Apostle Paul referred to as God’s “unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15). Or as a loved Christmas hymn puts it, the “wondrous gift” that God gives us: the “blessings of His heaven.”

The textbook of Christian Science – “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy – describes the “Kingdom of Heaven” as “the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme” (p. 590). Mind, Spirit, and Soul are Bible-based synonyms for God that help shed light on various facets of the divine nature.

So “His heaven” is – like the God that rules it – harmonious, flawless, endless, intelligent, spiritual, beautiful. And Christ Jesus taught that God’s kingdom is right at hand. It’s not some far-off physical location we may or may not end up in someday, but our permanent, spiritual home.

Those qualities that define the kingdom of heaven are also the qualities that define what we truly are as God’s children, the reflection of God’s own nature – spiritual and harmonious and intelligent and pure and so many other wonderful things. Right now, and always.

Our forever place in God’s kingdom and our eternal selfhood as the expression of God’s goodness constitute the most precious gift we could ever have. And, really, “gift” is an understatement. What we’re talking about here is the core of what we are and why we are, stemming from Deity’s very essence. It’s the unchanging fact of the goodness that’s ours because our divine Parent is infinite goodness and reigns supreme.

As we accept and unwrap this gift – as we begin to grasp that we are inherently blessed because God’s children simply can’t be otherwise – other gifts pour forth. We feel the pure and tender and strong love of God that animates our true being. We find inspiration, joy, self-worth, strength, comfort, reformation, healing. We find the humility to let the unifying grace, intelligence, and love of God shine through us.

Countless accounts of healing in this column and in other Christian Science publications illustrate that there’s no underestimating just how impactful this can be. The blessings are truly boundless, and they are universal – there for each and every one of us.

God is always giving. Divine goodness is always unfolding around us, in us, through us. Each of us can let this spiritual fact ground our thoughts, words, and actions, and experience more fully the unspeakably wonderful “blessings of His heaven.”

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 The most wonderful gift
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2022/1212/The-most-wonderful-gift
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe