“Words Are Your Tools”

Many years before coming to Plainfield, I was watching that old show Judge Judy, and in one episode she told one of the people in her courtroom, “words are your tool, sir.” That impressed me enough that I realized I must have been watching that show only to gain that one insight, so I turned it off and never watched again — but that thought stayed with me.

Coming to this Church, and learning how important words are in Christian Science, and, as John says in the Bible, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) it became clear that I needed to change my toolset of words, and work to eliminate and replace words that seemingly reinforced false beliefs and “poor thought-models.” (S&H, p. 259)

So I began by switching out the word ‘chance’ for ‘opportunity’ and the word ‘fortunate’ for ‘blessed’ and the word ‘unfortunate’ for the understanding that there was no demonstration in that instance, and knowing that the feeling of anything being lucky or unlucky is just the failure to see that God is All and how in Him there “is no variableness” (James 1:17)

This increased vigilance about the words I use, translated into making me more vigilant about thinking correctly, and has helped me immensely over my time here. It has stopped me feeling that ‘things just happen’ or that I, or anyone, could ever be ‘a victim of circumstance’, and has made me understand God’s perpetual goodness and my perpetual accountability to God as I go about my daily life.

How wonderful to know it is not luck or chance that brought us here, and that our past history did not make us either unfortunate or fortunate, but, once we learn to understand Christian Science correctly, it becomes clear it is God alone who is working His purposes out in each of our lives. Only Christian Science gives us the ability to see Truth, Life, and Love at work, and to recognize each day the God-given opportunities to be His reflection and gain every blessing that God has laid out before us.

I am so grateful for Christian Science, this Church, and practitioner support.