‘If it weren’t for this one thing ...’
Maybe you’ve encountered this thought before: “If it weren’t for this one thing, everything would be fine.” Maybe the “one thing” is a relationship problem, an injury, or a nagging financial issue that seems to engulf our life, casting a shadow on everything.
The account of Daniel in the Bible has helped to uplift my perspective when “one thing” has appeared monumental. Here was an individual who at one point was thrown into a lions’ den because he refused to stop worshipping God. It’s not hard to imagine how staggering this could be.
But indeed, there was something of greater concern to Daniel than this “one thing,” and that was his faithful worship of the one God he knew to be powerful and good. The result was that Daniel was protected, and no harm came to him (or the lions).
Here’s another example. From one vantage point, Christ Jesus’ crucifixion might have looked like the “one thing” that indicated complete failure even after a life full of healing and transforming lives. But instead, Jesus was resurrected, proving the irresistible healing power of God – divine Life and Love itself – over hatred and death, and showing that God’s law of good was active right then and there.
The healing, saving Christ is eternal, enabling us to prove the power of divine Love and to experience the divine goodness that continues to bless and heal today, in countless ways.
Although I can in no way compare my situation to what Daniel or Jesus confronted, a few decades ago I faced what you might call a “one thing” experience. There was constant pain in my legs and back that was limiting and fatiguing.
This situation touched everything in my life, including my ability to do my job (I was often on my feet) and just everyday tasks. At times I would look longingly at others riding their bicycles – one of my favorite things to do – and found myself thinking that if I didn’t have this to deal with, I could be doing that, too.
Because I had found turning to God effective when faced with other problems over the years, that’s the direction I took to find a solution in this situation. I prayed to understand that Spirit, God, is all good, and that I was – as we all are – Spirit’s wholly good child. These spiritual facts, which are threaded throughout the Bible and highlighted in the teachings of Christian Science, are a potent basis for prayer that heals.
Reasoning out from this basis enabled me to grasp more fully that my real identity was not in a finite structure of muscles, bones, and other material components, but entirely spiritual – flawless and whole. One idea in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, was my constant companion. It says, “Spirit’s senses are without pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide from them the harmony of all things and the might and permanence of Truth” (pp. 214-215).
Because Spirit, God, is our very source, we can only experience peace. And because pain is not from God, who is infinitely good, it is not truly part of us. Recognizing this spiritual reality enables us to feel pure harmony more tangibly, even under difficult circumstances.
As I prayed – on my own and, at times, with the support of a Christian Science practitioner – these ideas began to be more important to me than the physical problem. My thought began to shift from a focus on the so-called one thing that was seeming to hide my God-given freedom to a greater understanding of my spiritual identity as always free and unrestricted. These ideas became very real to me, and the pain faded away completely and permanently.
If a hindrance seems to be overtaking our experience, we can join an early follower of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, in his desire to “press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. ... I focus on this one thing: ... looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:12, 13, New Living Translation). Wonderful good is sure to follow.
