A friend was swimming in a very large pool when she realized she had lost a contact lens from one of her eyes.
“Oh, no! How will I ever find it?” surged doubt and fear.
Putting her Christian Science into practice, she remembered that all is Mind and Mind’s idea. Nothing is ever lost in Mind, she affirmed, because Mind knows the location of every one of its ideas, whether it is called a memory, a song, a bit of information or a contact lens.
She found peace in accepting that divine Mind knew exactly where her contact lens was. She reflected this Mind, and as Mind’s reflection it was natural for her to know where the lens was too.
Putting all doubt and fear aside, and trusting the one Mind’s direction, she looked for her lens. Ten minutes later she found it at the bottom of the pool.
Such a discovery sounds incredible to the human mind, but it’s not hard to believe for the divine.
In Mind, there is no space, no distance, no past, no future…only the now. And what is true in the spiritual now is always true.
As we discard a limited material view of the universe and adopt the all-knowing, all comprehending, all-seeing Mind as our model, what seemed absent to human sense is suddenly discovered in the spiritual.
Nothing is ever lost in Mind.
I have always been confused at testimonies where things that were lost were found because “nothing is lost in Mind”. If Mind doesn’t know matter, why would Mind find it? I always that quote meant no spiritual thing is lost, not material things. For example, you may lose a wad of cash, but you can never lose true supply.
It doesn’t seem right to pray for a material thing to be found, because that’s like praying for money or for some other material commodity.
I, too, have had a similar experience. I was playing in the ocean with my little dog who inadvertantly kicked a bow off of my bathing suit. I knew that divine Love meets every human need. And that the all inclusive divine Mind knows where everything is. Although the water was slightly turbulant and even though I had gotten out of the water, put my dog down, and returned, God showed me where the bow was. I was so inspired when I pulled it up from the sandy ocean floor, but I also realised, that this demonstration was not about finding my little bow. It was about seeing the completeness of the all-knowing Mind. This has been a gentle reminder many times since.
To the first commenter above: I agree with your point, and it is well taken. We don’t pray for material things because that is starting from the wrong premise. The statment “Nothing is lost in Mind,” is still accurate though, because nothing is ever lost in Mind. Our prayer is to understand that we live in Mind, not in matter. The more we truly understand we live in Mind, we find ourselves living in an environment where nothing gets lost. This understanding is gained in degrees and takes time and much spiritual growth, so perhaps, there may be a time when one loses a wad of cash, and never sees it again. But that does not change the truth that “nothing is ever lost in Mind.” The cash appears lost because we’re still thinking we live in matter, that supply was the cash and susceptible to loss. Once this belief is totally destroyed, though, with an understanding that all is Mind, and this may take eons for humanity to grasp in the overall big picture, the cash will not be lost. It will be found.
I agree that finding the material object is not the point. As Mary Baker Eddy states on page 575 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols.” The point is the understanding that God is the source of all being, all intelligence, truth, life, and love. Understanding and trusting this truth begets demonstration. No moment is too insignificant to demonstrate our understanding and reliance on God, good.
Thanks, Evan. That makes the point much more clear. Now i don’t feel so bad at all the things I have lost things and never recovered them, even though I prayed to see that nothing is lost in Mind. But my peace even in the midst of losing those material things, has never been lost. In fact, it’s made me see more clearly that nothing spiritual is truly lost, and that’s what matters most.
Monica,
You got it! Nothing spiritual is ever lost…and the more we understand that all is spiritual in the first place, we are not susceptible to being tempted by the belief of loss. Our focus is never on material things, but always on spiritual ideas…and ideas never get lost.