One day as I was leaving work, I found myself thinking, “I can’t wait to get home!” I wanted to feel more comfortable – to feel like myself – and I raced home to my apartment to do it. Then I began to wonder, “Why do I have to be at home to feel more like me?”
In its best sense, the idea of home evokes feelings of being comforted, appreciated, known, safe, and deeply loved and cared for. But what if you lost your home? What if you were between homes? Would you then be denied all the wonderful qualities associated with home? The concept of home must have a deeper significance and a more enduring nature.
As a student of Christian Science, I had learned that the source of all good is God. I reasoned that therefore the good qualities of home must actually have their source in God. And because God is divine Spirit, they must be as spiritual and enduring as God Himself is, and must be available to everyone at all times.
I felt the need for still deeper insight and was led to turn to the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy. This book, which elucidates the spiritual sense of the Bible, offers a spiritual interpretation of the 23rd Psalm. On page 578 the author takes us line by line through this beloved psalm, “substituting,” she says, “for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal or spiritual sense of Deity.”
In the last line of the psalm, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (verse 6), she uses alternatives for a couple of key words: “I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] forever.” Yes, I thought, home isn’t defined by a house with walls located in a certain area. Our true home, where we reside mentally, is the consciousness of divine Love.
The first chapter of the Bible tells us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. That means each of us must reflect the all-good, all-embracing consciousness of God. In that awareness of Love, we are known, safe, seen, and loved for what we truly are as God’s child. So we never have to leave this home, or consciousness – nor in reality can we.
I reasoned that I could never feel separated from feeling comfortable, from feeling like myself, because I dwell in the house, the consciousness, of Love, forever! This newfound understanding had immediate effects on my life. I soon realized that from the time my hand touched the doorknob to head out to work in the morning until the time I returned to my apartment in the evening, I felt at home. And when I encountered new places and new people, I had a wonderful sense of ease, of feeling welcomed.
But these weren’t the only effects this prayer had on my life. My understanding of home had grown so much that I was never inside that apartment anymore! An offer came up to housesit for a family while they were vacationing. One job led to hundreds of housesitting jobs.
One time, I was asked to housesit for a small dog. I noticed that he was missing most of his fur. I prayerfully affirmed that this little creature was God’s, and that he, too, lived in the consciousness of divine Love. I reasoned that since Love is God, who is infinite and fills all space, there couldn’t be anything uneasy or uncomfortable about his life. All he could experience was the peace of Love.
I didn’t give his lack of fur another thought. A few days after my time with him ended, I received a phone call from the owner, who asked, “Missy, what did you do?” She explained, “Our dog had been missing most of his fur for the past six months, and when we returned from vacation, it had all grown back. Not only that,” she continued, “it grew back much softer than it had been before.” The truth about our real home – the consciousness of Love, where we all dwell in harmony – had healed this little dog.
Science and Health says on page 254, “Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.” And on page 587 it gives the spiritual definition of “heaven”: “Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul.” Sounds like a wonderful home to me!
Adapted from an article published in the May 20, 2019, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
