Finding our home

MANY people today are understanding the power of prayer to bring spiritual growth and meet human needs. They are recognizing that good--including health, happiness, and abundance--is natural, not miraculous, is the outcome of understanding God and His laws. A recent experience I had proved this to me vividly. Because of increased living costs, it became necessary for me to give up a beautiful apartment and look for something more economical. As I took the necessary steps to find a new home, however, I was faced with a bleak picture of shortage and soaring prices. It seemed that whatever was available and affordable was undesirable. I began to pray deeply for a clearer and humbler understanding of the Bible truth that ``in him [God] we live, and move, and have our being.'' 1 From my study of Christian Science I understood this to mean that God is divine Mind, the only intelligence governing the universe, and that man, His offspring, lives and moves under the complete control and harmony of this one divine intelligence. I knew, then, that I was actually governed by God and His law of progress and fulfillment. Many other statements from the Bible and from the books of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, also helped me. One was ``Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.'' 2 Another, from Mrs. Eddy's writings, was, ``The real house in which `we live, and move, and have our being' is Spirit, God, the eternal harmony of infinite Soul.' '' 3 I also remembered Christ Jesus' words ``In my Father's house are many mansions.'' 4 Like Abraham, however, who was willing to place his son on the altar as a symbol of his trust that God is good, I found that I had to sacrifice many material notions about home for this higher spiritual idea. Fear of change, pride of circumstance, human will--all had to yield to these all-pervasive spiritual facts. I began to see that even more vital than the place we call our home is the understanding that, in the deepest, truest sense, our home is our consciousness of God, good, and that whenever we dwell in this consciousness we are in our true home. This understanding is manifested, wherever we are, in the qualities that make for a harmonious home and that lend support to the work we have to do-- peace, quiet, safety. It's also manifested in the elements that bring satisfaction and contentment--individuality, beauty, and so forth. I felt a quiet confidence that my great desire to live in accord with God, divine Principle, by living within my present resources could bring only blessing, not loss or penalty. This, however, does not mean that we limit God in His provision of good. On the contrary, it was only when I accepted wholeheartedly God's outpouring of good to His children that the turn of events came. One day I recognized very clearly that God is our Father-Mother, our only true Parent, and that as His children we inherit al l good from Him alone. Thoughts of limitation and lack were completely wiped out. That day I found my new home. As might be expected in a demonstration of God's love for man, there was nothing limited about it. The new place included peace, quiet, security, beauty, and historic charm in a lovely location. It was also very reasonably priced, beyond what one could imagine for that location. Yet it was far nicer than my previous home. It seemed like a miracle. But it wasn't. Actually, good is natural, not miraculous. No one ever need lack a home--a place where he can work and pray in quiet and safety and give expression to his enlarging understanding of order and beauty. Reports of the world's increasing number of homeless are not evidence that some are separated from God's love. Rather this situation is evidence of the world's need to understand better God's spiritual law of love. As we come to understand divine law more clearly, there will be greater freedom from poverty. The Bible tells us, ``The Lord is good to all.'' 5 And Mrs. Eddy writes: ``Good is natural and primitive. It is not miraculous to itself.'' 6 1 Acts 17:28. 2 Psalms 90:1, 2. 3 Pulpit and Press, p. 2. 4 John 14:2. 5 Psalms 145:9. 6 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 128.