By Kristin Bennett, C.S.
It’s summer! What a great time to “dive into the calm, strong currents of true spirituality,” and be free,[Science and Health 99:23]! We are free to think and move as one with the strength, grace and glory of God’s sparkling ocean of Love, and to feel the warmth on our shoulders and consciousness from the shining rays of Truth.
Recently, while I was shopping, I saw a t-shirt with a picture of fireworks and the words “Light Up the Night Sky”. It reminded me of a Fourth of July weekend I once spent at a Christian Science nursing facility.
Fresh out of college I took Nurse’s Aide Training. I was assigned to work the night shift. It was my very first time celebrating a holiday alone, without family.
The nursing floor was dark that night, but as I tended to my duties I caught a glimpse through a window of some spectacular fireworks over a nearby lake. I’ve never forgotten that moment, because the wise teachings of a wonderful Superintendent of Nurses prepared me to prayerfully celebrate freedom with joy, happiness, and kindness, so I was able to see a truer meaning of freedom than I had known before.
In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy tells us “As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being,”(Science and Health 361:16). I saw that it was such a privilege to proclaim for myself, and for all, the freedom to express happiness, health, cleanliness, movement, joyous expectation of good, life, vitality, the ability to give and receive delicious nourishment, the freedom of each individual to shine beautifully. We have a divine right to express these qualities of God as His children, and nothing can cloud, tarnish, impede or destroy our ability to reflect these glorious showers of light ignited by the flame of Christ.
The light of Truth on that holy night sparked the thoughts and illumined the hearts of all on the nursing floor. Over the following days it was so special to see patients rising up, walking out and going home. What seemed so dark…wasn’t. Truth lit up our night sky and freedom reigned. Each and every day, as God’s children, we can proclaim our freedom. “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free,” (SH 227:24)!