God's government or zodiac signs?

IT began innocently enough. A college friend I admired had an astrology book and loved figuring out the zodiac signs of her friends by their characteristics. She thought she could spot a Libra across the room and know when she was talking to a Leo. She was the life of any party. One day she offered her book to me. Soon I believed I was able to figure out people's signs, at least part of the time. I enjoyed a certain popularity as I told people about themselves.

As time went on I found I identified with people of certain signs and did not particularly like others. In fact, I was dating someone whose sign I did not like. Right then I should have checked myself. I had been raised in the Christian Science Sunday School, where I learned that man is the spiritual child of God and that we need to identify everyone as they are in truth, as belonging to God's family. The true selfhood of everyone is something far more than a material personality with likable or unlikable traits. The man of God's creating is His spiritual image, expressing intelligence, love, perception, grace -- qualities inherent in the divine nature.

During this time I never planned my days or actions by a horoscope. I still always turned to God, the one Mind, for guidance, knowing that we receive the direction we need as we put our trust in Him. The man of God's creating is not subject to chance but to His law of good, and we can prove this spiritual reality as we faithfully look to our creator for guidance.

One night after a date with the person whose sign I didn't like, I suffered abdominal pain. I began to pray for myself, striving to realize my perfection as the spiritual image of God. Suddenly I realized how inconsistent it was to be affirming my spiritual perfection while I was holding to a rigid view of someone else as far less than perfect and labeling him as an astrological prototype.

Quite a struggle began. I realized I wanted to get out of the mental arena I had placed myself in. I had been using astrology as a crutch, and I didn't need it. I realized I was truly an expression of the Mind that created me; that I was here to witness God's love and that meant being loving. I had to see beyond the outward appearance to the reality of man as expressing all the qualities of the divine nature.

I continued to pray, realizing that I was God's spiritual image and likeness, never separated from His love. I had God-given dominion over pain and discord because God had never made it or sanctioned it. Soon I was free of the pain. And I knew I was free from a lot more. No more interest in astrology!

What a mistake it was to be categorizing people by the signs of the zodiac. Lives are not preordained by the position of mindless orbs in the sky. The true nature of God's universe is totally spiritual, governed in perfect order by His wisdom. There is no lesser power. A growing perception of this truth and a willingness to trust our creator for direction are the true promoters of harmony in our lives.

When we bypass God, turning to another supposed power for guidance, even in the selection of friends, aren't we breaking the First Commandment, ``Thou shalt have no other gods before me''?1 Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says, ``The planets have no more power over man than over his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man, reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth and its hosts.''2

Paramount in astrological calculation is the year, month, day, and the very hour an individual is born. In understanding God as the infinite creator, we realize our identity is not stamped with a date of birth. Originating in God, our identity is eternally coexistent with Him. Didn't Christ Jesus point to this reality when he said, ``And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was''?3

None of us, in truth, has ever left the glory of the Father. We have always been in His heavenly kingdom, and we are there right now. To open our thoughts and lives to this reality is to experience God's infinitely wise and loving government.

1Exodus 20:3. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 102. 3John 17:5. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart....In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5,6