As Americans commemorate the nation’s semiquincentennial on July 4, history buffs have much to celebrate. Recent months have seen the publication of dozens of new books on the Revolutionary era, pegged to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The five we spotlight here are compelling chronicles of the past, and, as most edifying histories do, they illuminate our current moment as well.

A terrific book for readers seeking an exhaustive account of the nation’s founding is “The American Revolution: An Intimate History,” the companion text to documentarian Ken Burns’ six-part PBS series. Co-written by Burns and his frequent collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward, the volume presents the war in its multiple dimensions. It was “a bloody struggle that would engage more than two dozen nations, European as well as Native American,” the authors write, “that also somehow came to be about the noblest aspirations of humankind.”

Ward and Burns highlight the fact that the Revolution deeply divided the colonists, with as many as one-fifth remaining loyal to the crown. Indigenous nations were also divided, but many aligned with the British in the hopes of blocking the colonists’ westward expansion. Finally, some enslaved people sought freedom by siding with the Patriots, while others were promised emancipation by the British forces.

Why We Wrote This

In 1776, the 13 colonies declared independence from Britain. The underdog colonists defeated a major military power and lit the beacon of liberty for people around the world. Still, the American Revolution “was as much an idea as an event,” writes one historian, and thus has no natural end point. America is a work in progress. A group of recent books delves deeply into the era’s successes and challenges.

The massive book covers the conflict’s roots, its Enlightenment underpinnings, its extreme brutality, and its global repercussions. Six stand-alone essays by historians, including Maya Jasanoff, Vincent Brown, and Philip J. Deloria, add scholarly heft. Finally, “The American Revolution” is sumptuously illustrated with hundreds of paintings, maps, and photographs of museum artifacts, making it a visual feast not unlike, say, a Ken Burns documentary.

July 4, 2026, marks not only the 250th anniversary of the declaration’s signing, but also the 200th anniversary of the deaths of two of America’s founders: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. “A Perfect Coincidence” is Jim Rasenberger’s engaging dual biography of Jefferson and Adams, covering their individual accomplishments as well as their complex relationship, which spanned friendship, rivalry, estrangement, and, finally, reconciliation.

The readable narrative explores the men’s virtues and flaws and captures their contrasting personalities. Of the Southern aristocrat Jefferson – author of the declaration and enslaver, over his lifetime, of approximately 600 people – Rasenberger writes, “No American was ever more idealistic than Jefferson, and no American more at war with his own ideals.” Meanwhile, the vain, combative Adams, an ardent revolutionary and the nation’s first vice president and second president, “never met a high sentiment he did not question.”

Rasenberger gives the near-simultaneous 1826 deaths of Jefferson and Adams fascinating context, demonstrating that in its time, the astonishing coincidence was seen as miraculous evidence of America’s divine favor. Until then, “it had been mainly a matter of faith and interpretation that Divine Providence took a special interest in the United States,” the author writes. “Here now was incontrovertible proof.” The sign was welcomed by a populace seeking reassurance as fierce arguments over slavery strained the bonds of union.

Of course, one could fill a library with biographies of the Founding Fathers. Other worthy new ones include H.W. Brands’ life of George Washington, “American Patriarch,” and Jack Kelly’s “Tom Paine’s War,” about the author of the galvanizing 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense” (whom Rasenberger dubs “an honorary Founder”). Two excellent recent biographies set during the Revolution spotlight little-known figures whose lives provide important insight into the era.

“Hamilton” fans might quibble with the characterization of the Schuyler sisters as “little-known.” They feature prominently in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical: Its subject, Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, was married to Eliza Schuyler and had an intense attachment to her sister, Angelica. Amanda Vaill’s vivid, elegant “Pride and Pleasure,” winner of the Pulitzer Prize in biography, gives the story of the formidable sisters epic sweep.

The family patriarch, Philip Schuyler, was a major general in the Continental Army and later a U.S. senator; their elite background afforded the sisters access to early America’s key figures, even if their own power derived from their proximity to powerful men. The author elucidates Angelica’s desire to be, in Vaill’s words, “an actor in the drama taking place around her, not a passive observer.” She charts how Eliza, more understated than her sister, aided Hamilton in his work and then acted to preserve his legacy after his 1804 death. Vaill notes that women like the Schuyler sisters are often eclipsed by men; after all, they “signed no declarations, negotiated no treaties, enacted no laws.” Her deeply researched – and deeply enjoyable – account of the women’s lives makes our understanding of the period fuller and richer.

David George’s life was as eventful as that of any celebrated figure of the Revolutionary era. As Gregory E. O’Malley’s “The Escapes of David George” documents, George was born enslaved on a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1742. At age 19, he escaped his brutal enslaver and fled to the Carolina backcountry. (At a time when there were no free states, the author points out that George had no obvious destination to run to.) He was held captive in Creek and Natchez communities before being sold by his Indigenous captors to a fur trader, leading to a decade of re-enslavement on a South Carolina plantation. During those years, George converted to Christianity and started what is likely the world’s first Black Baptist church.

During the Revolution, the British promised emancipation to slaves fleeing “rebel” masters. George organized a mass escape to British lines, fleeing with 50 men, women, and children. At the end of the war, he relocated with white Loyalists and other newly emancipated Black people to Nova Scotia. In 1792, he moved with his family a final time to Britain’s experimental antislavery colony in Sierra Leone. In addition to being an extraordinary story, the book highlights what O’Malley calls a “bitter irony”: that “rights to ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ describe perfectly what David George and thousands of other Black refugees pursued by fleeing the American Revolution rather than joining it.”

O’Malley notes that throughout American history, men and women have fought for equality, writing that “in modern conflicts over voting rights, racialized incarceration rates, and pathways to citizens for immigrants, ... struggles over inclusion and exclusion in American democracy continue.” Those who wish to ponder these struggles on July 4 will be participating in a distinguished tradition. In “The Long Revolution,” Nathan Perl-Rosenthal explains that before it became associated with fireworks and barbecues, the Fourth was a day for contemplating the national experiment in self-government. For the first century after the Revolutionary War, the holiday had as its centerpiece a public oration assessing the health of the country’s founding principles.

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Using 2,500 surviving speeches as source material, Perl-Rosenthal demonstrates that early generations of Americans viewed the Revolution as fragile and incomplete. Earlier speeches tended to focus on external threats to the republic, such as those that culminated in the War of 1812. Afterward, the orations turned to internal divisions, particularly those related to slavery. He cites abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ 1852 address as a masterpiece of the form, with Douglass insisting, in the author’s words, that “the work of the Revolution was not done so long as slavery survived.”

In 2026, official celebrations have taken a triumphalist approach to America’s founding. There is no shortage of triumph in these books: The colonists overcame a superior military power to prevail in a war fought in the name of universal human liberty. But there’s also tragedy, not least in the nation’s failure to live up to its exalted ideals. In Perl-Rosenthal’s view, the American Revolution “was as much an idea as an event,” and as such, it “has no natural ending point” until its goals have been fulfilled for all. Two hundred fifty years on, the quest for “a more perfect union” continues.

A psalmist once wrote, “The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me” (Psalms 42:8). Confidence in God as ever-present Love sings through the ages in this hymn. It speaks to everyone in all situations.

But sometimes God can feel far off, hidden, or even uninterested in mankind. This is not a new concern. In the book of Jeremiah God responds directly to this question by asking rhetorically, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” (23:23, 24).

The Bible describes God as Love. In a passage from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy found in this week’s Bible lesson on “God” from the Christian Science Quarterly, we read: “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good” (p. 494).

Also in this week’s Bible lesson, we have the story of Hagar, who had borne Abram (later renamed Abraham) his first son at the urging of his wife Sarai (later renamed Sarah), because Sarai had been barren. Later when Sarah did give birth to a son, as God had told Abraham she would, there was tension between the women. Sarah urged Abraham to send Hagar and her son away, and he did, sending them off on their own into the wilderness with only bread and a bottle of water. The water was soon gone, and it must certainly have felt to Hagar that they were hidden in a place where God could not find them. But God had assured Abraham that his first son would be the father of a nation. Was Hagar included in the spirit of that promise? She was. God’s love was not limited.

What happened for Hagar is reflected in something Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health: “In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as ‘a very present help in trouble’” (pp. 12-13). Through her tears, Hagar heard the angel of God telling her, “Fear not.” As she let go of the fear that she and her son were separated from God, she could see what God had already supplied for them – a whole well of water (see Genesis 21:9-20).

I had an experience as a young mother when it felt as if I might be far from God. I had just moved with my husband and one-year-old daughter to a country halfway around the world. I had no friends there as yet and had just met my husband’s family. Alone at home, I began to miscarry our second child. I had miscarried before and understood what was going on. There were no Christian Science churches or Christian Science practitioners in this country, I couldn’t make an overseas call as they were very costly, and the internet was not yet available. But I knew God was there with me. What I did have was that week’s Christian Science Bible lesson, which I began to study deeply.

I came to a verse from Isaiah which is also in this week’s lesson: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). My understanding in that moment was that this child was an expression of God’s word. As Science and Health states, “Man is the expression of God’s being” (p. 470). The miscarrying stopped, and my child was brought to full term.

Mrs. Eddy writes, “The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science” (Science and Health, pp. 470–471). This proved true for Hagar and her son, and thousands of years later it proved true for me and my son. It is true for “all mankind and in every hour,” since “the miracle of grace is no miracle to Love” (Science and Health, p. 494).

If you’re new to the weekly Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly, you can view a free sample of a previous week’s Bible lesson here. Subscribers to the weekly Lesson can log in here.

El milagro de la gracia

Kit Cornell Kurtz

Un salmista escribió una vez: “De día mandará Jehová su misericordia, y de noche su cántico estará conmigo” (Salmos 42:8). La confianza en Dios como el Amor siempre presente canta a través de los siglos en este himno. Habla a todo el mundo en todas las situaciones.

Pero a veces Dios puede sentirse lejano, oculto o incluso desinteresado en la humanidad. Esto no es una preocupación nueva. En el libro de Jeremías, Dios responde directamente a esta pregunta al preguntar retóricamente: ¿Soy yo Dios de cerca solamente, dice Jehová, y no Dios desde muy lejos? ¿Se ocultará alguno, dice Jehová, en escondrijos que yo no lo vea?” (23:23, 24).

La Biblia describe a Dios como Amor. En un pasaje de “Ciencia y Salud con la Llave de las Escrituras” de Mary Baker Eddy, que se encuentra en la Lección Bíblica de esta semana sobre “Dios” en el Cuaderno Trimestral de la Ciencia Cristiana, leemos: “No está bien imaginarse que Jesús demostró el poder divino de sanar sólo para un número selecto o por un limitado período de tiempo, puesto que a la humanidad entera y a toda hora, el Amor divino suministra todo el bien” (pág. 494).

También en la lección bíblica de esta semana, tenemos la historia de Agar, que dio a Abram (más tarde renombrado Abraham) su primer hijo por insistencia de su esposa Sarai (luego renombrada Sara), porque Sarai era estéril. Más tarde, cuando Sara dio a luz a un hijo, como Dios le había dicho a Abraham que haría, hubo tensión entre las mujeres. Sara instó a Abraham a enviar a Agar y a su hijo lejos, y él lo hizo, enviándolos solos al desierto con solo pan y una botella de agua. El agua pronto se acabó, y seguramente Agar debe de haber sentido que estaban escondidos en un lugar donde Dios no podía encontrarlos. Pero Dios le había asegurado a Abraham que su primogénito sería el padre de una nación. ¿Estaba Agar incluida en el espíritu de esa promesa? Lo estaba. El amor de Dios no era limitado.

Lo que ocurrió con Agar se refleja en algo que la Sra. Eddy afirma en Ciencia y Salud: “En la Ciencia divina, donde las oraciones son mentales, todos pueden valerse, de Dios como ‘pronto auxilio en las tribulaciones’” (págs. 12-13). Entre lágrimas, Agar escuchó al ángel de Dios decirle: “No temas”. Al abandonar el miedo de que ella y su hijo estuvieran separados de Dios, pudo ver lo que Dios ya les había proporcionado: un pozo entero de agua (véase Génesis 21:9-20).

Cuando era una madre joven, tuve una experiencia en la que sentía como si estuviera lejos de Dios. Acababa de mudarme con mi marido y mi hija de un año a un país al otro lado del mundo. Todavía no tenía amigos allí y acababa de conocer a la familia de mi marido. Sola en casa, empecé a abortar a nuestro segundo hijo. Ya había abortado antes y entendí lo que estaba pasando. No había iglesias de la Ciencia Cristiana ni practicistas de la Ciencia Cristiana en este país, no podía hacer una llamada al extranjero porque eran muy costosas y aún no había internet disponible. Pero sabía que Dios estaba conmigo. Lo que sí tenía era la Lección Bíblica de la Ciencia Cristiana de esa semana, que empecé a estudiar a fondo.

Llegué a un versículo de Isaías que también está en la lección de esta semana: “Así será mi palabra que sale de mi boca; no volverá a mí vacía, sino que hará lo que yo quiero, y será prosperada en aquello para que la envié” (Isaías 55:11). En ese momento, entendí que este niño era una expresión de la palabra de Dios. Como afirma Ciencia y Salud: “El hombre es la expresión del ser de Dios” (pág. 470). El aborto se detuvo y mi hijo llegó a término.

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La Sra. Eddy escribe: “Las relaciones entre Dios y el hombre, el Principio divino e idea divina, son indestructibles en la Ciencia” (Ciencia y Salud, págs. 470-471). Esto demostró ser verdad para Agar y su hijo, y miles de años después también se confirmó para mí y mi hijo. Es cierto para “la humanidad entera y a toda hora”, ya que “el milagro de la gracia no es milagro para el Amor” (Ciencia y Salud, pág. 494).

Si eres nuevo en las Lecciones Bíblicas semanales del Cuaderno Trimestral de la Ciencia Cristiana, puedes ver aquí una muestra gratuita de una lección bíblica de la semana anterior. Los suscriptores de la lección semanal pueden iniciar sesión aquí https://biblelesson.christianscience.com/es/

Before the first transatlantic telegraph cable, messages traveled across the ocean by steamship and took about two weeks each way. In 1854, a wealthy paper magnate named Cyrus Field gathered “a scientific ‘dream team,’” including legendary inventor Samuel Morse, to engineer a cable under the Atlantic, creating what might be the greatest technological feat of the 19th century.

In “Lightning Beneath the Sea,” author James M. Tabor argues that Field should be remembered as a champion of scientific ingenuity. From humble beginnings in rural Massachusetts, Field made his fortune in New York City as a paper merchant, retiring as a rich man when he was still in his early 30s. But Field, whose perpetual restlessness had driven his climb to business success, wasn’t suited to sit on the sidelines. He threw himself into the transatlantic cable project, with all its complexities and challenges.

The cable, which began operating in 1858, sparked a communications revolution. For the first time, messages could dart between continents within minutes. “Time and space seem literally annihilated,” a newspaper at the time reported. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine was equally ecstatic, declaring that “the Atlantic Ocean has been abolished.”

Why We Wrote This

Cyrus Field, a wealthy paper magnate, gathered “a scientific ‘dream team’” to engineer a cable under the Atlantic, a Promethean project that would have daunted lesser individuals. Author James M. Tabor argues that Field should be remembered as a champion of scientific ingenuity.

In the tradition of David McCullough’s “The Great Bridge” and “The Path Between the Seas,” which chronicled, respectively, the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal, Tabor casts the trial-and-error struggles involved in Field’s massive construction project as an epic adventure. Tabor, like the late McCullough, appears particularly suited to this kind of narrative. In “Blind Descent,” his 2010 book about explorers who ventured to the world’s deepest undersea caves, Tabor proved adept at conveying the intricacies of the nautical depths.

Tabor’s work in TV documentary has also sharpened his skills at explaining technical processes to a general audience. In touching on the enormous water pressure straining cables at ocean depths, for example, he compares the stress to “a large SUV balanced on a domino.” Bright bits of science fact shimmer throughout these pages like schools of herring. Among other things, we learn that in a world where modern synthetic polymers had yet to be developed, Field’s contemporaries had to devise a way to insulate undersea cables. They landed on gutta-percha, a resin made from trees “which grow naturally only in Malaysia and Indonesia.” Tabor tells readers: “Without gutta-percha, none of the early submarine telegraph cables, including Field’s, would have been possible.”

Ultimately, though, “Lightning Beneath the Sea” resonates most vividly in detailing the personal ordeals and rivalries that proved as thorny as the logistical hurdles.

In Tabor’s telling, Field comes off as a figure of Shakespearean tragedy, someone whose strengths would paradoxically become his undoing. “I never saw Cyrus so uneasy,” Field’s brother Matthew once noted, “as when he was trying to keep still.”

Field’s legendary tenacity galvanized his will to complete a project that appeared quixotic to many others. After he floated the concept of a transatlantic cable, one newspaper, expressing a common sentiment, described it as “utterly impracticable and absurd.” But Field’s exuberance, though it sustained him through huge setbacks, could also be grating. After his first transatlantic cable foundered, he sought new champions for his endeavor, including President Abraham Lincoln. Though celebrated for his affability, Lincoln grew exasperated with Field’s rapid-fire delivery, waving him away.

Such details make Tabor’s book a gripping yarn, one he occasionally oversells. “Global commerce did not exist,” he boldly declares in describing the world before Field’s cable spanned an ocean. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that global trade existed, though at a much slower pace. Sometimes, Tabor can be overly speculative. “On that halcyon morning, failure could not have been farther from his thoughts,” he writes of Field on his maiden voyage for the project. For the author to purport to understand Field’s inner life at such a moment could be a stretch.

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This might be especially true of Field himself, whose voluble spirit shaped an equally volatile life. Its highs and lows defy easy summary here, and watching them unfold is a sustaining tension within Tabor’s story.

“Lightning Beneath the Sea” is more than a quaint period piece. Undersea cables, after all, continue to help define modern communications, even in an age of satellites. “People think that data is in the cloud, but it’s not,” a Google executive points out. “It’s in the ocean.”

My country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is presently facing a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in its northern region. Reports of infectious diseases, whether in our immediate area of residence or in remote places, deserve everyone’s attention and prayers.

I have naturally joined all who are praying about this challenging situation. I pray in the way I have learned from the teachings and the life experience of Christ Jesus, who proved that God’s ever-present love does not simply alleviate suffering and disease but heals them. He found healing natural because he acknowledged that the healer in every case is God and that with Him “all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). On this basis, he healed many chronic and infectious conditions, including several cases of what is referred to as leprosy and was viewed as highly contagious.

Christian Science has taught me to base my prayers on the solid spiritual foundation of Jesus’ teachings – namely, the allness and perfection of God and the nothingness or unreality of anything unlike God, good. Disease obviously falls into the latter category; it is not from God but the result of an erroneous belief in a reality or power opposed to God, the All-in-all. Indeed, Christian Science has taught me that God is One – the only power and all good, not the source of any evil, such as disease. Evil having no reality or power, we cannot be susceptible to it in any form.

My prayers for my country and for people everywhere rest on the certitude that God’s ever-present love, power, and wisdom will ultimately destroy any belief in a power opposed to His good and perfect creation. Such trust in God kept me untouched by an outbreak of the flu at my workplace several years ago.

At the time, I had a private office, and my staff had desks in an open space shared with employees from other departments. Whenever I came out of my office and shook hands with some of my staff or hugged them, a few warned that I shouldn’t; otherwise, I would be contaminated. But I did so without fear and never suffered any ill effects. I assured them that I could not be contaminated by anyone, nor could I affect them except with good health. I held in thought that God, good, fills all space, leaving no room for something like flu to rule. A virus has no intelligence, reality, or power to transmit itself to anyone. Only that which is good is communicable. To the degree that we understand man’s spiritual nature, we help lift ourselves and others out of the plague of infectious disease and the fear of it.

Fear, like ignorance, shuts our eyes to and paralyzes our trust in God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and unfailing love for His children, whereas the understanding of God’s ever-present goodness removes the fear that generates suffering.

Today, I am taking the mental stand that God does not leave the government of His creation to something evil such as disease. Psalm 91 is one of the Bible texts that foster my trust in God’s protecting power. For instance, verses 9 through 11 promise: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

The following passage from the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, lifts my thought above the negative and intimidating reports of disease: “Jesus never asked if disease were acute or chronic, and he never recommended attention to laws of health, never gave drugs, never prayed to know if God were willing that a man should live. He understood man, whose Life is God, to be immortal, and knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible” (p. 369).

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I pray to see beyond the distressing picture of contagious disease and understand what Jesus taught about man’s immortality – to recognize, as he did, God’s perfection reflected throughout His creation. Wherever Jesus was called on for help, he recognized no sick person, no sinner, no dead person, no one in irreversible threat, nothing hard or impossible to achieve. He knew that God, divine Truth, is the governing power and intelligence of the universe. For this reason, Jesus was able to prove then what we are being called to prove – and are able to prove – today: “Truth handles the most malignant contagion with perfect assurance” (Science and Health, p. 176). I remain confident that the healing power of divine Truth does not change or lose its efficacy.

These ideas fill me with the expectation of good – or, shall I say, the certitude that God’s will for His beloved children is only good and will ultimately prevail. Nothing can overrule God’s omnipotent and omnipresent love and care.

Have you ever felt wronged or misunderstood – perhaps in a family or professional relationship – and found yourself wondering, Whose side is God on?

It’s a question that doesn’t only arise in personal struggles. It can surface during times of conflict and division on every scale. But Scripture doesn’t simply answer it – it reframes the question, inviting us to see what God sees and to discern what divine Love is revealing for everyone involved.

A story from the Bible (see II Kings 6:8-23) brought this into sharper focus for me. By his spiritual discernment, the prophet Elisha was repeatedly able to warn the king of Israel about ambushes planned by the king of Syria. Frustrated that his strategies kept being exposed, the Syrian king sent a powerful army to capture Elisha in the city of Dothan.

When Elisha’s servant saw the army surrounding them early in the morning, he panicked. But Elisha remained calm. “Fear not,” he said, “for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” He then prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened. Suddenly, the servant saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around them – representing spiritual forces of divine protection.

It’s tempting to read this story and conclude that God was “on Israel’s side.” But through the lens of Christian Science, we see something deeper: the impartial operation of spiritual law – the ever-present expression of Truth and Love – governing God’s entirely spiritual creation.

God, divine Love, upholds what is just, right, and spiritually true for all. “Love,” as Mary Baker Eddy writes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals” (p. 13).

In this account, Elisha isn’t protected because he’s “on the winning team.” He’s protected because he’s spiritually awake. He’s not praying for God to defeat an enemy – he’s perceiving the presence and power of God, which dissolves fear and aggression. He’s listening to divine Mind, not relying on human strategy. That spiritual receptivity brings peace, clarity, and even safety to others.

After the enemy soldiers had been taken captive, at Elisha’s recommendation the king of Israel fed them and released them in peace. This unexpected ending shifts the narrative from military triumph to spiritually discerning and expressing God’s all-embracing love. In seeing what was true spiritually, Elisha was enabled to choose compassion over conquest, and the result was that the Syrian raids ceased.

That’s the quiet strength of spiritual insight – it shields, uplifts, and blesses all.

I’ve found that asking, Whose side is God on? can distract from more healing questions, such as: What is God revealing? What does divine Mind see? That shift – from pleading for personal backing to seeking spiritual receptivity – opens the door to peace, strength, and transformation.

Like many people, I’ve experienced moments during conflict when I’ve longed for God to validate my position and prove me right. But as I pray in these moments, I begin to see that a better goal than trying to convince God is to let spiritual understanding reshape my view of the situation. As my outlook is transformed, I feel a growing sense of calm and confidence that divine Love is governing everyone involved.

Mrs. Eddy writes, “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love” (Science and Health, p. 66). That’s been true for me. As I continue turning to God for spiritual clarity, I find more of Love’s impartial care revealed, step by step.

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So no, God doesn’t take sides, favoring some individuals over others. God, Love, is all – and governs all. Divine law operates in the realm of spiritual reality, revealing peace where strife seemed entrenched, grace where judgment once prevailed, and unity where division dominated.

When we’re faced with conflict – whether political or deeply personal – we don’t need to persuade God to support us over others. We can let prayer lift our thought into clearer spiritual vision – to see what divine Love is already revealing and establishing: harmony, mercy, and justice that transcend sides and express Truth itself.

John Adams and his wife, Abigail Smith Adams, exchanged more than 1,100 letters between 1762 and 1801. These two letters from 1776 reflect the waiting, the war’s impact on the domestic scene around Boston, the strong desire by women to be included in the new laws of liberty, and the optimism once the Declaration of Independence had been signed. The letters are courtesy of the Adams Editorial Papers Project at the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Abigail Adams to John Adams, Braintree, Massachusetts, March 31, 1776

I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us.

... I feel very differently at the approach of spring to what I did a month ago. We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether when we had toild we could reap the fruits of our own industery, whether we could rest in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the wilderness, but now we feel as if we might sit under our own vine and eat the good of the land.

... I long to hear that you have declared an independency – and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend.

John Adams to Abigail Adams, Philadelphia, July 3, 1776

Had a Declaration of Independency been made seven Months ago, it would have been attended with many great and glorious Effects. ... We might before this Hour, have formed Alliances with foreign States. ...

But on the other Hand, the Delay of this Declaration to this Time, has many great Advantages attending it. – The Hopes of Reconciliation, which were fondly entertained by Multitudes of honest and well meaning tho weak and mistaken People, have been gradually and at last totally extinguished. – Time has been given for the whole People, maturely to consider the great Question of Independence and to ripen their judgments, dissipate their Fears, and allure their Hopes, by discussing it in News Papers and Pamphletts, by debating it, in Assemblies, Conventions, Committees of Safety and Inspection, in Town and County Meetings, as well as in private Conversations, so that the whole People in every Colony of the 13, have now adopted it, as their own Act. – This will cement the Union, and avoid those Heats and perhaps Convulsions which might have been occasioned, by such a Declaration Six Months ago.

But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.

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I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. – I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. – Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

When, as the plane was taking off, the mischievous military transport commander radioed the control tower the three short words, “Cancel the band,” he was pretty sure what the effect of that order would be. And he was right. The control tower would assume there was a VIP on board – which there wasn’t – and protocol dictated that a VIP needed to be met upon arrival by a band. When the tower asked, “Wait, who’s on board?” the commander remained silent. Without further information, the people in charge of arranging a band to greet a VIP picked the solution least likely to get them into trouble if there was, in fact, a VIP on board. When the aircraft arrived at its destination, the crew was met with – you guessed it – a band!

Do we ever find ourselves obeying an order that was never given? We may feel it’s obvious that we wouldn’t do so. But is it really that obvious? What if we’re not talking about the orders given by a person but the “orders” dictated by circumstances? For example, if we’re exposed to what is commonly believed to be a highly contagious disease, accepted rules regarding health would dictate that we get sick. But do we have to obey?

Christian Science answers, “No!” starting from the very basic premise that God is the only creator and the only lawgiver. The Bible tells us that God created all and created it like Him, wholly good (see Genesis 1). His sons and daughters – each of us in our true, spiritual being – reflect Him, are His image and likeness. God did not create evil; therefore, evil was not created and thus cannot possibly have law or authority behind it.

Of course, then, God also doesn’t send evil. The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote, “Instead of God sending sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. ... God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 206).

It’s useful to remember this when we find ourselves thinking, “I’m sick or injured because (pick one!): a) I was working too hard, b) I didn’t sleep enough, c) I didn’t keep my distance from that contagious person, d) I inherited this problem from my parents, or e) I had an accident.” There is no authority that can force us to accept evil as any part of our experience. Instead, God gives us authority over sin and sickness.

Once, I was in the middle of a horrible week – I had too much to do, and on top of it all, I was sick. I turned for inspiration to that week’s Bible Lesson-Sermon from the Christian Science Quarterly, which included the story of Elisha being saved from the Syrian army (see II Kings 6:8-23). The story ends with the words “So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” I found myself thinking hyperbolically and self-pityingly, “Yeah, well, I’ve got the bands of Syria surrounding me right now!”

At that moment, the story about the aircraft commander, which I had heard from a friend, popped into thought – especially the only actual order the commander had given: “Cancel the band!” I laughingly realized that I could cancel my metaphorical Syrian band, too. More importantly, I realized, there had never been an actual order inflicting that “band” on me in the first place.

I had been praying, but now I felt I was really understanding the truth of myself – and everyone else – as the creation of God, divine Love. I saw clearly that health is our natural state because we reflect God’s infinite goodness. We cannot be overwhelmed, because there can be no imbalance between the task at hand and our ability to accomplish it. Love provides all of the resources we need to take care of every right duty, and to do so with joy. With those thoughts, the illness vanished, and I was able to get everything done that I needed to do.

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We are all VIP’s in God’s sight because we are His expression and have dominion over everything unlike Him. He forever supplies us with strength, capability, health, and holiness. Anything in our thinking that says we’re faced with a problem over which we have no authority is a “band” we can cancel. After all, no one ever ordered it to begin with!

Adapted from an editorial published in the June 22, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

Around the globe, people are seeking a deeper understanding of the nature and source of true health or wholeness. “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26), a verse from the Scriptures, forms part of the Bible lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly on the subject “Christian Science.” This verse affirms not only that divine Spirit, a scriptural name for God, is the divine source of health, but that He maintains and sustains health, too.

Mary Baker Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and the author of the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” In her work entitled “Retrospection and Introspection,” Mrs. Eddy says of her discovery of Christian Science, “I named it Christian, because it is compassionate, helpful, and spiritual” (p. 25).

The Bible lesson includes the account of a woman who’d had an issue of blood for twelve years being healed when she touched the border of Christ Jesus’ garment – when she came in contact with the Christ, the spiritual idea of God (see Luke 8:43-48). The many healing works of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, provide evidence that God is “the Lord that healeth thee.” Christian Science teaches that the divine laws of Truth and Life, as demonstrated by Jesus and his disciples, continue to operate today as an eternal, demonstrable Science.

Recently, I was dealing with symptoms of influenza and a sore throat. These persisted when I awoke the following day, and although I was feeling uncomfortable, I began preparing for the work I needed to do that day. I felt confident that I could be healed by turning to God in quiet, expectant prayer as I had done many times before.

I considered the Lord’s Prayer and its spiritual interpretation in the chapter titled “Prayer” in Science and Health. These lines were most helpful:

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All” (p. 17).

I perceived that the Lord’s Prayer is a profound affirmation of God’s love and care for us. This prayer shifted my thought from seeing myself as susceptible to disease, to an understanding of man’s spiritual immunity from disease. Our true nature, or selfhood, is created by Spirit and is wholly loved, complete, and sound. It’s in the discovery of this spiritual identity that we find true health and holiness.

I was soon free from all flu symptoms. I was able to fulfill my various tasks without any issues. I gave thanks to God for His unchanging goodness, which had enabled me to prove that His care and support are always present to turn to.

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This healing experience gave me a much deeper understanding of the Lord’s Prayer and its efficacy when confronted with challenges of any kind. An understanding of the all-encompassing law of Spirit, operating in our lives now, brings salvation, bountiful joy, and a deeper understanding of our wholeness as sons and daughters of God.

If you’re new to the weekly Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly, you can view a free sample of a previous week’s Bible lesson here. Subscribers to the weekly Lesson can log in here.

These are the fiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.

Land, by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf)

Maggie O’Farrell’s magnificent historical novel “Land” is a powerful epic about a remote Irish peninsula and its beleaguered peoples. Set in the aftermath of the Great Hunger, the narrative focuses on the family of a surveyor and cartographer named Tomás. He has been hired by the British Ordnance Survey to map the territory and record the loss of hundreds of Irish tenant households following the potato blight. Lushly written and heartbreaking, the novel is also a moving paean to perseverance and survival. – Heller McAlpin

Why We Wrote This

Summer reading season is here with shady-chair-ready books that expand imaginations and enrich understanding. In nonfiction, innovation blooms – from the first all-star baseball game to a 1909 cross-country car race to the man who laid the first transatlantic cable.

Green City Wars, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

Skotch isn’t merely a raccoon. The world-weary protagonist of “Green City Wars” is a freelance investigator with a job to do – locate and deliver a mouse to his former employer before warring squirrel armies, or the rat gangster boss, or a weasel enforcer grab him first. Sound crazy? Part noir, part “Animal Farm,” the latest from Adrian Tchaikovsky envisions a world where genetically engineered animals provide the (mostly) unseen labor powering humans’ harmonious eco-dreamland. Feathers ruffle and the fur flies as vexing questions about exploitation, addiction, and the privilege of independent thought loom in the shadows. Tchaikovsky’s world-building dazzles. – Erin Douglass

An Artful Dodge, by Karen Odden (Soho Crime)

This unusual historical novel set in Victorian London revolves around a notorious ring of women thieves. Virtuoso cat burglar Kit Jimeson yearns to escape the gang’s dangerous lifestyle and protect her beloved younger sister from joining. When treacherous Maggie O’Connell, leader of the gang, returns from prison, she resents Kit’s standing with the group. “An Artful Dodge” offers a surprisingly moving tale with loyal and courageous characters. – Stefanie Milligan

A Pair of Aces, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley)

In 1930s New York, two women from very different milieus – a prosecutor and a brothel owner – team up to topple mob boss Lucky Luciano. The novel is based on the true story of Eunice Carter, Manhattan’s assistant district attorney (and first Black female prosecutor). While Carter’s collaboration with high-class madam Polly Adler (a real person) is fictional, both women blazed trails in hostile environments. – Stefanie Milligan   

Murder at the Spirit Lounge, by Jess Kidd (Atria Books)

In Jess Kidd’s terrific second mystery featuring former nun Nora Breen, a séance for six becomes one unholy mess. A “world-

renowned medium” has been murdered while doing the hard (and apparently lucrative) work of “lifting the veil between worlds.” From an alluring actress to a gruff colonel, the gathering’s motley attendees can’t explain what happened – and then, one by one, start meeting inexplicable ends themselves. Ever curious, Nora teams up with Detective Inspector Rideout, himself an attendee, to uncover the truth. The writing is stellar; the message of partnership vanquishing vindictiveness a balm. – Erin Douglass

Leave and Come Back, by Lavanya Lakshmi (Pamela Dorman Books)

Lavanya Lakshmi’s sparkling rom-com finds Simran’s love interest, Leo, unintentionally crashing her cousin’s two-week wedding festivities in New Jersey. Worried that her judgmental Aunt Veema will reject Leo, Simran enlists her cousins’ help in a scheme straight out of a Bollywood movie. Their aim: Make Leo the most helpful and appreciative wedding guest ever, so that he will win Veema over and be accepted into the family. The novel turns grief and misunderstandings into life-affirming renewal. – Stefanie Milligan 

Moonlight Murder, by Uzma Jalaluddin (Harper Perennial)

Uzma Jalaluddin’s eloquent sequel to “Detective Aunty” is a bona fide cozy murder mystery hit! South Asian-Canadian detective Aunty Kausar Khan is impelled to investigate another murder in Toronto – this time linked to one of her granddaughters. Double doses of intrigue arise, as clues pile up that inspire Kausar to finally solve who killed her son, Ali, 20 years ago. – Stefanie Milligan 

These are the nonfiction titles our reviewers liked best.

Stalin’s Apostles, by Antonia Senior (PublicAffairs)

Antonia Senior’s “Stalin’s Apostles” revisits the infamous Cambridge Five spy ring, a cadre of posh Englishmen who infiltrated the upper ranks of Britain’s clubby midcentury establishment – and funneled mountains of secrets straight to the Kremlin before their unmasking in 1951. The noxious mix of English manners, left-wing idealism, and cold-blooded betrayal has long captivated the public. But Senior’s new account strips the spies of romantic glamor, focusing instead on the devastating human costs of their treachery and how they aided Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in building a brutal empire. – Bryn Stole

The Wreck of the Mentor, by Eric Jay Dolin (Liveright)

An American whaling ship is lost at sea in a fierce storm, and the survivors wash up on a small speck of land in a remote corner of the Pacific. In their bid to survive, they will face unimaginable hardships and challenges, not the least of which include clashes with different groups of Pacific Islanders. More broadly, this is a story of what happened when the economic growth and expansion of the West collided with traditional cultures that were, for good reason, deeply suspicious of newcomers. – Terry W. Hartle

The First All-Star Game, by Randall Sullivan (Atlantic Monthly Press)

In 1933, the United States was reeling from a market crash and an assassination attempt on the president. Baseball, still in its fledgling days, was sinking under the influence of gamblers and gangsters, even as the athleticism of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig drove the sport to new heights. A Chicago journalist was so dedicated to the idea of bringing all the best players to one game in Comiskey Park that he promised to cover any losses with his own paycheck. The result was the first All-Star Game – a home run for both baseball and a nation yearning for hope. – Kendra Nordin Beato

Lightning Beneath the Sea, by James M. Tabor (W. W. Norton & Company)

Though little known today, New Yorker Cyrus Field became a global celebrity in the 19th century after he assembled a scientific dream team to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable. The technology allowed messages between continents to travel within minutes. That great leap forward, and the glory and complications it created in its wake, are at the heart of James M. Tabor’s sweeping chronicle of the birth of the global communications age. – Danny Heitman

The Long Revolution, by Nathan Perl-Rosenthal (Basic Books)

Before the Fourth of July became associated with fireworks and barbecues, it was a day for debating the American experiment in self-government: For the nation’s first 100 years, the centerpiece of the annual celebration was a public oration assessing the health of the country’s founding ideals. Using 2,500 surviving speeches as source material – and citing abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ 1852 address as a masterpiece of the form – historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal presents a compelling vision of a Revolution that early generations of Americans viewed as fragile and incomplete. – Barbara Spindel

The Beasts of the East, by Andrew Moore (Mariner Books)

Environmental journalist Andrew Moore explores citizen-driven efforts to restore the once-verdant ecosystems of the eastern United States and draw near-extinct species back to their native habitats. He examines firsthand the return of buffalo and bison, as well as sandhill cranes to areas once decimated by industrialization and suburban sprawl. And while these initiatives are not without challenges, Moore’s meticulous research, conveyed in engaging prose, also restores a sense of hope. – Joan Gaylord

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The Hardest, Longest Race, by Eric Moskowitz (St. Martin's Press)

Automobiles were still a novelty in 1909, and paved roads were something of a rarity, too. That made for a precarious odyssey when the moneyed rake Robert Guggenheim decided to stage a cross-country car race from New York City to Seattle, a contest that author Eric Moskowitz chronicles with voluminous research and wry humor. Fans of great summer road trips will find his story irresistible. – Danny Heitman

There’s an app you can get on your smartphone called What3words. It divides the earth’s surface into small squares, each having a unique address that consists of three words.

Although the words for every square on the globe are already assigned by the app, it got me thinking about what three words I’d use to sum up where so many people live today. Is it a place of “chaos and confusion,” of “discord and violence”? It certainly appears that way from events and rhetoric filling the media.

But Christian Science teaches that we can look beneath the surface appearance of things, as Christ Jesus did, to find the deeper, God-established facts. Jesus often used a three-word term to indicate where we all live right now: the “kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of God.”

What do we know about this kingdom? Jesus told his followers and others, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) and “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Mary Baker Eddy thought deeply about this spiritual realm. In the Glossary of her main work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” she defines “Kingdom of Heaven” as “the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme” (p. 590). The Glossary’s definition of “heaven” includes “harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle” (p. 587).

This makes it clear that to find true harmony and peace, we need to understand God’s absolute government of His creation. And the names for God used in those definitions – Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle – help us do that because they indicate that God’s nature is expressed as integrity, precision, wisdom, wholeness, and so on.

Living with this understanding of God’s harmonious government and allowing it to reign in our thoughts, we naturally come to see and acknowledge the presence of God, good, in our experience. We can be sure that whenever we recognize and express God-derived qualities such as kindness, honesty, and joy in our day, right there the kingdom of heaven is being manifested “at hand.”

In our prayers for the world, we can look beyond what’s going on in the human scene and affirm that each individual expression of infinite Spirit is cherished by God and that this never changes.

Our concerns and fears stem from the misconception that what we perceive with the physical senses is what actually is. But Jesus urges us to consider God’s perspective. God made all that truly exists. Right where we see a material world in turmoil, God’s kingdom is expressing the divine nature as spiritual and good, excluding any element of evil. Jesus called evil a lie (see John 8:44) because he knew that God made only good. And a lie can’t deceive us when we know the truth. Accepting the true, spiritual view reverses fear and harm. I have experienced this.

One time, I was traveling at night on a train where you couldn’t walk through to the next compartment. The only other passenger in that car was a man who had boarded the train just before it left the station. He started telling me what he thought of women traveling on their own. Then he sat down by me and said he was going to assault me.

I couldn’t get away from him – but I could pray. I reached out to God to feel His presence and His reign of harmony, to see and acknowledge the kingdom of heaven at hand. I affirmed that nothing could separate me from God’s great love.

The big “aha” moment was when I realized that not only was I inseparable from divine Love, but so was that man. I didn’t answer him but just kept praying with this new inspiration that he couldn’t be separated from the integrity and purity of God. As my fear drained away, the man suddenly stopped talking and moved back to another seat. He was responding to the real, God-given love and integrity that I was affirming. At the next station, a group of people got into the train car, and the rest of my journey was undisturbed.

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Christian Science shows us that we can pivot from the false perception that evil is there to the reality that God, good, is the only presence and power. As we do this, we can pinpoint our real location more accurately than any three words in an app! We are forever in the kingdom of heaven.

Adapted from an article published in the June 8, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

I love collecting faces in my camera and bringing them home with me.

Faces are like snowflakes: No two are alike.

I recently visited Côte d’Ivoire for the first time. Every new country has a learning curve for me since folks in faraway places react differently to cameras. After visiting for a while in the country, I noticed that Ivorians had resting faces that looked rather closed and stern. I wondered, Were they not happy to see me? But after a connection was made – maybe just eye contact ... wait for it ... beautiful smiles broke out again and again.

Why We Wrote This

Persistence and instant connection create lasting joy in our staff photographer's images of people from Côte d'Ivoire.

When I travel on assignment for the Monitor, one of the best parts of my job is peeking behind the curtain of a country. It’s not like being on vacation, because I get to meet and spend a little time with our subjects, sometimes visiting their homes or businesses. I see places not listed on tourist itineraries. Other times, I come across  people for just a quick impression, when I look out the window of our passing car or walk by them on my way to somewhere else. That’s what these images represent.

The twins! Of all the frames I shot in Côte d’Ivoire, the photos I took of these two wonderful men are my favorites. Our connection was instant.  They immediately gave me permission to snap their picture. They were thrilled. Their smiles, their joy, their love for each other – it was all there. They had been sitting together outside a tailor’s atelier that I was photographing. Did they live nearby? Did they always sit there? I don’t know. I don’t even know their names. But they made me smile when I met them, and they make me smile every time I look at their portrait.

The children live in a tiny village near cocoa farms. We stopped our car for a moment on the way back to the capital. They were right outside my window. Click! In the photo one looks surprised, another not sure, one with a shy smile, and the boy, like little boys everywhere, has a gesture with a pose to match.

Later, looking out from a shop, I saw this football club warming up before a scrimmage. A couple of players spotted me with my long lens and reacted. Other players kept running, unaware. 

I never know what I’ll encounter on a photo shoot, but I try to be ready for anything. A cook was grilling fish for the lunchtime crowd at a small restaurant in the capital, Abidjan. While the Monitor reporter  was doing  an interview there, I kept going over to the cook to capture just the right moment. She laughed when I came back multiple times. I did get her name: Mariam Kone.

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As with all my work trips, I am tasked with illustrating stories through my lens that a writer is reporting. In addition, I’m always on the lookout for other images that move me. I don’t speak French, so in Côte d’Ivoire, I relied on our fluent correspondent and our local “fixer,” Albain, who helped us find what we needed. Still, there were many moments on my own and I interacted without language, using my smile and a slight lift of my camera that said, “Can I take your photo?” Usually, the answer was “Yes!”

– Melanie Stetson Freeman

Who has an ego problem? This question came to mind some months ago. It was a time of year when the suggestion that seasonal symptoms of sickness are valid and inevitable can seem particularly strong, causing us to accept the possibility that we can experience anything other than perfect health and perfect harmony with our Father-Mother, God, good.

In praying about this, I knew that Truth, God, was on my side. As a student of Christian Science, I knew so well man’s exemption from such claims. God had never mandated sickness for His image and likeness, and I could not be fooled into feeling the effects of what was simply an unreal suggestion coming to thought.

This confidence in the ever-presence of God, Love, has been a sure foundation for me through many years. The Bible, as our “chart of life” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 24), has plenty to say on the subject. For instance, after an experience proving to him the absolute might of the one God, Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar declared, “How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:3). That same recognition brings comfort, joy, health, and harmony today, just as it did in ancient times.

Then why was I feeling a subtle suggestion of symptoms that I had not experienced in many years? Hadn’t I been praying for myself daily and studying the inspiring truths in the weekly Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly? Perhaps there was some new concept that I needed to grasp.

It was about this time that I was reminded of some words about ego in Science and Health. Mrs. Eddy speaks about ego several times in her writings, and with the example that follows, I was in for a great lesson. Speaking of God as Soul and Mind, she writes, “Man is the reflection of Soul. He is the direct opposite of material sensation, and there is but one Ego. We run into error when we divide Soul into souls, multiply Mind into minds and suppose error to be mind, then mind to be in matter and matter to be a lawgiver, unintelligence to act like intelligence, and mortality to be the matrix of immortality” (pp. 249-250).

Here was my turning point! While I had gladly been declaring my freedom as a child of God, I had failed to wrap all of humanity in the same healing Love by seeing them embraced in the same atmosphere of Soul. I had to guard against any belief, however small, proposing that an ego of my own was welcome to know health but that others might still suffer. Didn’t Christ Jesus show us that there was one universal source of good when he said to a young man, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17)? His was a full understanding that all are complete and perfect individual expressions of the one Ego, God, not that goodness was only for him or a select few.

This unfoldment of Truth invigorated my study and freed me from the symptoms I’d been experiencing. Correction of my thought to the understanding that the blessings from the one Ego are not an exclusive gift but are freely given to all humanity ensured my own continued expression of life and health, and I was healed.

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There can be no “ego problem” or conflicting egos when we remember that in Truth, there is only one God, one Ego.

Originally published in the June 8, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.