A union of hearts

Mary Baker Eddy included a whole chapter on the subject of Marriage in her work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Here's one idea from that chapter: "Marriage should signify a union of hearts." 

The other day I read the most beautiful account of how a husband prayed for his wife. The story is related by Fujiko Signs in her article God is our refuge (Christian Science Sentinel dated 25 October 2010). The article has the by-line: A Christian Science practitioner shares how her friend prayed when his wife was facing a serious operation.

Fujiko writes: At times, a medical diagnosis may seem to have more power than anything else. It can be overwhelming to the patient, family, friends, and perhaps even the extended community he or she belongs to. But what if we look to and trust the fact that we that we have a refuge that's reliable and safe, powerful and trustworthy? In fact, God, being unconditional Love, cannot approve, create, or support such labels as incurable disease.

The woman's husband wrote: ... The doctor explained to my wife, her sister, and me that the only treatment he could recommend was surgical removal. He said the operation itself was very dangerous and difficult, but my wife expressed her desire to go through with the operation at this early stage.

He continued: I was confident that she would be healed through prayer, but I kept thinking about how she might be risking her life by going through a very dangerous operation. At this point, I remembered the story of the disciples asking Jesus, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered that none of them had sinned--it was for the works of God to be made manifest in the blind man (see John 9:1-3). This passage suggests that it was God's work that healed the blind man. As my spiritual reasoning deepened, I reached the understanding that God's presence and love would be shown to us. With that, I could respect and agree with my wife's courageous decision.

...I continued to pray to know with certainty that my wife was made in the image and likeness of God, and I knew that "man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death" (Science and Health, p. 475).

During the operation, this man read the chapters "Prayer" and "Footsteps of Truth" from Science and Health, and afterwards, while still at the hospital, the chapter "Science of Being".

The operation revealed no trace of disease.

Thinking about this lovely story this morning led me to open Song of Solomon, where I found chapter 6 verse 3: "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine".

We all belong to God.

Julie Swannell

Intern at Longyear?

The latest email from Longyear Museum has an article by Tessa Parmenter, Why Intern at Longyear?, dated August 19, 2026.

I find this a very interesting concept.  Students become part of the staff while they learn and do the work of the Museum along with the staff for a period.  

The article finishes with these points for hopefuls to consider:

Match your interests: Take a deep dive into a particular area or take on a range of projects with any of the following Longyear Museum departments:

• Collections cares for, catalogs, and organizes the museum’s rich trove of photographs, artwork, books, artifacts, and documents.

• Historic Houses manage and welcome visitors to eight homes in which Mrs. Eddy lived, sharing the story of her life and work as a teacher, healer, and writer.

• Development oversees fund-raising, membership, and outreach.

• Finance works on budgets, accounting, and other business operations of the museum.

• Research, Publications, and Communications highlights new findings and museum happenings through books, magazines, online articles, videos, and social media outreach.

• Visitor Services hosts visitors and manages the museum store, including product development, sales, inventory, and display.

• Facilities takes care of the buildings and grounds at the museum, and at the historic houses.

• IT maintains Longyear’s computer systems and online information storage and retrieval.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. What a rich variety of fields the museum covers. This list indicates the range of skills needed: certainly not a one or two person enterprise. I particularly liked this from the article: "high-quality work comes from high-quality workers who thrive in a fast-paced environment".

Clocks, timeliness and structure

At our Wednesday testimony meeting this week, a testifier mentioned Longyear.org,  referencing her research on the topic of "promptness". This research had uncovered an article about a documentary film called "Who shall be called?". The film is about the workers who were called to serve in the household of Mary Baker Eddy in her later years. (The 90-minute documentary, produced in 2008, is available for purchase from Longyear as a DVD, and the full story behind it can be read here at this link.) 

For our blog readers, we include some points of interest.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE

The introduction to the article explains that:

  The film covers the years when Mary Baker Eddy was founding the Church of Christ, Scientist, a period of great historical importance for Christian Scientists and the world. 

KNOWING THE FACTS - INSPIRATIONAL AND ESSENTIAL

Describing the purpose of the film, the article continues: 

     Knowing the facts about how Mrs. Eddy and her household practiced Christian Science in their day-to-day work is historically instructive. It’s also inspirational. Knowing more about Mrs. Eddy will, hopefully, inspire viewers to reread and study her published writings on which she worked so tirelessly...

    Also, knowing the facts is essential to clearing away myths about Mrs. Eddy. And there are plenty of them! For just one small example, there’s the notion that Mrs. Eddy was not one to run her life by the clock. 

     In fact, Mrs. Eddy did keep her eye on the time. She had three or four clocks in her study. She had a clock on the table beside her bed. She even had an illuminated clock in the sitting room (also known as the “swing room”) where she relaxed at the end of the day... 

     Mrs. Eddy set aside for herself specific times for prayer. When she went to her desk in the morning, she opened her Bible seemingly at random (but actually with a prayer for guidance), read the first verses her eyes lit upon, and worked prayerfully with that passage for a period of time. Then she turned to her morning’s work. 

     At 11:00 A.M. on the dot, she set her work aside and went on the back veranda for an hour to “talk to God,” as she told her household. Systematically structuring her day hour by hour assured she would have the times for prayer that were essential to maintaining her mission.

Our testifier had also discovered a lovely article written in 2001 and titled "Timeless Timepieces". Here, author Stacy Teicher Khadaroo writes about Mrs. Eddy's gift of a monogrammed pocket-watch to one of her secretaries who was also superintendent of her grounds, Joseph Mann. (Readers will be interested to read Joseph's affidavit regarding his remarkable recovery from accidental gun shot - see Calvin Hill's reminiscences in We Knew Mary Baker Eddy volume 1, amplified edition, pp. 344-348.)

Stacy's article concludes with a quote from Mrs. Eddy's "Improve your time", originally published in The Christian Science Journal 1883 and now in Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 230:

   All successful individuals have become such by hard work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit of pleasure.

Thank you, Karen, for sharing your research with us!

Julie Swannell