The restorative power of divine law

Many people take or leave the option of hairpieces with a degree of good humor. But others - especially women who have been taught to believe that their hair is their crowning glory - may be eager to combat baldness by taking literally Christ Jesus' assurance, ''The very hairs of dour head are all numbered.'' n1

n1 Matthew 10:30.

Neither age, accident, nor heredity can diminish the completeness of the care guaranteed to each individual by the eternal Christ, Truth, which Jesus embodied in his teachings and works. Still, glimpsing one's exemption from hair loss is one thing; proving it is another.

When my hairdresser tactfully offered to design a new hairdo to cover my receding hairline, I mentally accused him of carelessly overprocessing a recent permanent, causing hair breakage from which I would soon recover - or so I thought. When weeks went by and no new growth appeared, I became apprehensive.

Then at a family gathering we looked at pictures that showed most of one side of the family - even the women - with cases of ''advancing forehead.''

Though convinced that only a miracle could restore my hair, I was not discouraged: miracles had been happening to me ever since I had begun the study and practice of Christian Science!

This Science had taught me that miracles are the spiritually natural outcome of divine law, which overrules the false beliefs mistakenly called natural law. We can invite miracles into our experience through prayer, spiritually right reasoning, and Christian practice.

I realized that in order to witness God's law in action, I must stop blaming chemistry, carelessness, or constitution and start accepting responsibility for my own beliefs. I sorted out my thoughts and pinpointed errors that I had been accepting as though they were law:

1. Belief in many substances, some destructive and some damaged.

2. Belief that growth patterns are inherited.

3. Belief that through believing in the above I had sinned and now was being punished.

I saw that these errors seemed to give the ''why'' of baldness. What I needed to learn was the ''why not.'' I needed to better know God as Christian Science reveals Him - as infinite Spirit, the one perfect substance, as eternal Life and sinless Soul. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: ''Reasoning from false premises, - that Life is material, that immortal Soul is sinful, and hence that sin is eternal, - the reality of being is neither seen, felt, heard, nor understood. Human philosophy and human reason can never make one hair white or black, except in belief; whereas the demonstration of God , as in Christian Science, is gained through Christ as perfect manhood.'' n2

n2 Unity of Good, p. 51.

Step by step I proved to myself that God's creation ceaselessly reflects the harmony and health of perfect Spirit; that true growth is neither the pawn of matter nor the product of mortals. Divine Mind forms and unfolds true growth.

I felt particularly led to disinherit myself from the supposed law of heredity. Because hereditary theories presuppose individuals to be the mortal children of other mortals rather than offspring of God, the only creator, these theories are actually not laws but lies about God and man. The bald-faced lie of heredity can be proved bald - devoid of effect.

When I fully yielded to this understanding of God, I regained my composure, and soon new hair began to grow. About a year later a hairdresser who knew nothing of the problem remarked on the strength and abundance of my hair.

We may think we've experienced a miracle when we disentangle ourselves from belief in something apart from God, who is All-in-all. But to our innate spiritual sense, through which we discern the uninterrupted perfection of God and man, everything is always all right.

Through a spiritual understanding of divine law, and progress in Christian discipleship, we can prove that nothing can usurp the myriad reflections of completeness that constitute true individuality. DAILY BIBLE VERSE O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Psalms 119:97