`Even there'

MANY are invigorated by travel, by visiting different places and meeting new people. Sometimes they vie with each other in the reports, pictures, and souvenirs they bring back. But there's something else one can bring back as well: a renewed conviction of the presence of God even in that far-off place; a clear sense of a universal, unchanging Principle underlying all creation. Rediscovering God's ever-presence in new and unfamiliar settings can make His ever-presence more real and unforgettable to us than it may have been before. A man and his wife, students of Christian Science, had an experience that illustrated to them God's constant presence. Two days before they were due to disembark from their ship to continue a holiday tour with others, the wife began to suffer from a sore throat and high fever that confined her to bed. The couple felt helpless, separated from God. The following day there had been no improvement, so they telephoned a Christian Science practitioner who lived near their disembarkation point and asked for Christian Science treatment, or prayer. Very quickly the fever disappeared. She could speak normally again, and they packed for the landing in the morning. Both husband and wife were grateful that she could walk down the gangplank and continue the scheduled trip, including several days of tours, with no weakness or weariness. They had been strengthened by discovering the presence of Principle right where they were--even without the bolstering of familiar surroundings. The Psalmist asks: ``Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.'' 1 Stay-at-homes can reassure themselves with equal certainty: ``Even here shall Thy hand lead me.'' God's omnipresence may not always seem a reality to human thought, which always wants to conform things to its own limited conceptions. Nevertheless, the infinite God is everywhere. Finite conceptions would limit God's ever-presence and fragment His universe into a diversity of mortal personalities living apart from the one God. Then it would give each one its own particular tag--desirable or u ndesirable, rich or poor, far or near, healthy or unhealthy. Even these assessments mean something variable, according to prevailing physical and environmental conditions. But man is not a material personality with special susceptibilities to changing physical conditions. Rather, he is the spiritual offspring of God, of perfect Principle, continuously enjoying the divine presence. As we understand this, we begin to feel our God-given dominion, which then brings order and harmony to every aspect of our lives. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us: ``Hold perpetually this thought,--that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.'' 2 This unequivocal acknowledgment of God's omnipresence assures us that He is everywhere, without any exception at all. 1 Psalms 139:7-10. 2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 496.