A Spiritual Connection
Bringing a spiritual perspective to world events and daily life.
As reported in a recent newspaper article I read, there is a definite resurgence of interest in religion on college and university campuses. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, the article relates, the Religious Activities Center "is the hub for dozens of Muslim students attending evening prayers." There is "a very different buzz in the air" in the Religious Activities Center compared to the usual activity of the various labs found across campus at MIT (Jerry Shine, "Religious revival on campus," USA Weekend, Feb. 9-11, 1996).
Students of various religious denominations on campus attend study and prayer groups, prepare for various religious observances, partake of meals, and share in celebrations, all in the interest of sharing the spirit of faith. Groups are represented in this spiritual quest, not only at MIT, but at universities everywhere. Such reports of religious activity suggest a widespread searching for more spiritually based lives.
For centuries people have attempted to connect with a higher being. According to the Bible, multitudes thronged Christ Jesus because he gave evidence of such keen spiritual awareness. Goodness, purity, and compassion were just some of the qualities he expressed. Jesus demonstrated the power of God in his thoughts and actions. Individuals in need of physical and mental healing reached out to him because they perceived his spirituality. His ability to heal was the natural result of his awareness that God is present and is all-power. Those who sought him were seeking the comfort of his spiritual awareness.
Once Jesus healed a woman of chronic hemorrhaging, something she'd suffered with for twelve years. She had spent all her living on doctors, but was still not healed. The Bible says this woman touched the clothes Jesus was wearing, and that at that point she was healed; in the words of Luke, " . . . immediately her issue of blood stanched" (8:44).
It wasn't the clothes that had power or performed healing. But the woman was receptive, reaching out for a spiritual understanding that had behind it the true source of healing. There is comfort in knowing that we ourselves have access to the same God and His goodness that Jesus did, through our own understanding that we each have a distinct relation to God.
With a general increase evident in the demand for books with religious themes, the desire within humankind for that which is spiritual and good-for the truth-is perhaps like the desire of that woman Jesus healed. The same calling for aid in seeing things in a more spiritual light is involved.
Amid a person's longing to feel closer to God, the Supreme Being, it's good to remember that a sincere desire to experience spirituality is something God hears and answers. We can find Him to be our true source of identity. We can discover all true being to be in God.
Mary Baker Eddy, the woman who discovered Christian Science in 1866, wrote a book that explains the truth of the Bible. It continues to help those seeking a spiritual connection. Study of this book reveals that there is, and always has been, an unbroken link between God and man. The book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, says, "Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteousness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return unto us void" (p. 2).
Students of the Bible and Science and Health are engaged in seeking God and striving to live in the example of Jesus. They study what he taught. The inspiration of this study instructs, inspires, comforts, and heals. It is the product of a profound spiritual connection.
Whatever motivates the desire for spiritual nurturing, it is a sincere desire that must be fulfilled. Better health, greater peace, and a happiness perhaps never fully experienced before can be ours.
Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7