Newly landscaped front yard
A few days ago a dear friend visited me. She had worked here for about 12 years, starting in the mid 1980s, but she had not been back in several years. After a tour of Fern Lodge and conversations with several staff members, she came back to my office and said that she just loved Fern Lodge; “You always have the best people working here.” I agree. The Fern Lodge staff members are hardworking, joyous and inspired, and they strive to maintain a healing atmosphere in the facility. Each one is dedicated to ensuring that patients who come to the facility for Christian Science nursing feel the love of God and are helped and healed.
Through the years, I often ask in prayer, “What is it that establishes and maintains an atmosphere and environment conducive to metaphysical healing?” It’s tempting to think it’s a fresh, new building, clean and well-maintained, maybe gracious grounds with flowers and comfortable places to sit in sun or shade, or perhaps a quiet peaceful retreat, with ready access to Christian Science literature in different formats. All of these conditions are pleasant, and they may be comforting, but from my observations, these conditions alone do not ensure that the atmosphere leads to healing. Many years ago, as I pondered this question and read through the Gospels, the following scenes caught my attention:
- A quiet bedroom in a well-to-do family’s house
- A crowded house with an opening in the roof
- The barren countryside among caves and tombs
- Busy city streets with crowds milling about
- A public pool with sick and infirm lying around
- Crowded roadsides on the outskirts of towns
- A funeral procession
- A tomb
What do these places have in common? Christ Jesus saw within each one of them an atmosphere conducive to healing! What specifically was shared by this wide variety of scenarios that made them opportunities for healing? It was the thought, the perception of the Master, who understood that the presence and power of God would replace sickness and death with health, harmony, and life. The desire to help and to heal as Jesus did is what makes the Fern Lodge staff so wonderful. That desire is an essential quality of Christian Science nursing, and I am convinced it is an essential element for an atmosphere that promotes Christian Science healing.
Clearly the atmosphere conducive to Christian healing does not depend on physical elements and material conditions. We are talking about an atmosphere of thought. Christian Scientists promise to “watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.” God is Mind, and God is ever-present and eternally good. God, Mind, is divine Love, and therefore the atmosphere of divine thought is filled with qualities of Love. Love meets all human needs; Love comforts; Love heals.
When anyone acknowledges, reflects, and expresses the qualities of Love, then the healing effects of Love are evident right then and there. The Fern Lodge staff is dedicated to expressing the healing presence of Love. It’s no wonder we always have the best people working here.
Gratefully,
George Strong
Administrator