Decisions that heal and bless

Decisions – we make them continually, sometimes moment by moment. And making sound, beneficial decisions pertaining to our health and well-being can be the most meaningful of all. In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy puts it succinctly: “Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take” (p. 392).

Is there a way to cultivate good decision-making? There is. Speaking of all of us, the Bible proclaims that man has God-given dominion over all the earth (see Genesis 1:26-28). This dominion includes having the power to decide correctly how we will conduct our affairs, our health choices, and our life. All good choices have their origin in God.

It is our oneness with God, which Christ Jesus epitomized, that enables us to make sound choices that bless and heal. Christian Science is the law of God, annulling material laws fabricated by a so-called mind opposed to God, called the carnal mind. All suffering comes from the fear and false beliefs of this counterfeit mind. Since God is All-in-all and is infinite goodness as well as the only Mind of man, then from where can there be any detrimental material laws to plague us?

God is understood in Christian Science to be the one all-knowing Mind, so we, as His spiritual image, reflect the qualities of prudence, wisdom, and intelligence. These in turn lead to right answers and the ability to make good decisions. There is safety in looking to God as the source of all things, and we can even find healing when wisdom prompts us to take a stand.

The more we focus on God and learn what He is capable of, the more we will learn what our own abilities are. The Bible says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12). And this includes making prudent, timely decisions that affect our life, as well as the lives of others.

I once learned this when after a visit to a favorite restaurant, I was taken with heartburn so severe I had to lie down. I prayed and it passed, but I made the mistake of identifying the food I thought had caused it, and I determined to cross it off my list of food choices from then on.

Shortly after that I was again suffering from the same symptoms, and for the next few months I kept eliminating certain foods one after the other to try to escape the painful consequences that had plagued me. But the list was unending.

Then one day I found myself back at the same favorite restaurant poring over the menu, trying to find something I could tolerate, but to no avail. What to do? I felt out of options. Just then these words from Mrs. Eddy’s writings came to thought: “If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with the belief” (Science and Health, pp. 388-389).

Wow! This revolutionary statement points to the fact that it is always thought, not material conditions, that needs to be dealt with. Being unaware of this, one could go on for an indeterminate amount of time eliminating whatever food appears to be a catalyst for sickness, but never find lasting relief.

To say a light suddenly went on in my consciousness is an understatement. I knew this passage well from my years of studying Christian Science, but now I realized that I, along with all of God’s beloved children, had been blessed with the God-given dominion to make right and prudent decisions.

I quietly thanked God for revealing this alternate option, and then I made my choice: I dispensed with the thought that food had any power over me. It could not hurt me, and it could not help me either. In that moment I knew I was free. Then I ordered my favorite meal. This proved to be the end of the condition, and I no longer feel restricted in what I can eat.

Following her statement about food, Mrs. Eddy writes: “Which shall it be? If this decision be left to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf of the control of Mind over this belief and every erroneous belief, or material condition” (Science and Health, p. 389).

Now that’s food for thought!