There was the scrape of metal against metal as the door opened, but the prisoner sat unmoving, not comprehending the freedom that stood in front of him. It wasn’t until the lock on the cell next to him was removed and his sister bolted without looking back, that he decided to follow suit. Shortly thereafter, his brother’s cage was opened, and the trio, newly liberated, disappeared into the brush.

The three coyote siblings had been given a new lease on life when a rancher agreed to let an animal rescue organization release the adolescent orphans onto his property. On this vast tract of undeveloped land, the youngsters would be free to be what they were meant to be, roaming unconfined amidst the cactus and mesquite trees.

Freedom to be what we were meant to be – isn’t that what we all want? That feeling of being unrestricted, unchained, untied to anything that would hold us back from a harmonious, healthy, and happy life. And yet many of us may feel caged in by fear or circumstances such as poor health or difficult relationships. How can the “locks” be removed so that we can experience a greater sense of freedom in our lives?

Jesus once said to his followers, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). The teachings of Christian Science show that the root of the enslavement that Christ, Truth, frees us from is a material view of God and of ourselves.

Jesus overturned this material view by revealing the truth that God, Spirit, who is infinitely good, never creates or allows evil of any kind. He proved this through healing, showing us that God’s spiritual universe, the kingdom of heaven, is right at hand.

By knowing that we live in this kingdom of God – which is not a physical locality but entirely spiritual – we can be freed from the bondage of inharmony. And as God’s children, also entirely spiritual, we all have an innate consciousness of God’s ever-presence – of divine Love’s nearness and dearness.

The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote, “Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 481). We are created free from limiting views of existence as material, because God, being divine Spirit, cannot create or know matter.

Understanding this uplifts our thought and brings healing and freedom.

One summer, as the Fourth of July (Independence Day in my country) came around, I felt very much imprisoned by a disease that made me uncomfortable in my own skin. Over the years, I had experienced many healings through prayer in Christian Science. But this time I felt so boxed in by the illness that I felt far from God’s help.

I knew that God, good, didn’t cause or create the pain I was in, and I understood that from God’s perspective I could never be exposed to trouble. So I found myself wondering how God could help me.

That’s when I learned a huge lesson. Prayer helped me see that God didn’t need to know the pain I was in to heal me. God knows us as we truly are – spiritual, harmonious, whole – and that is the view that heals. Instead of God needing to know my distress, I needed to yield to what God knew about me.

I realized that being trapped in pain and outside of God’s power and presence wasn’t my true state of being. God, divine Love, isn’t some outside presence. At every moment we, as God’s children, are in the midst of Love’s presence. As the Bible says, “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

In divine Love’s allness and ever-presence, there is no place for pain or disease. As I felt the truth of God’s all-inclusive love, the pain and disease lessened until they ultimately disappeared. I was free!

Each of us has a God-given right to freedom. Science and Health encourages, “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right” (p. 227). If we’re feeling trapped by a view of life as material and turbulent, we can turn to divine Love and get a bigger, spiritual view of ourselves and others. Even a glimpse is enough to throw open the gates that put us on the path to freedom.