Walking. It’s great to walk and talk with a friend. Sometimes I walk alone and often find that I’m singing hymns to myself. Several months ago I was having trouble walking with pain in my hip, and getting worse, and wondered if eventually I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore. Hymn 139 from the Christian Science Hymnal starts, “I walk with Love along the way, And O, it is a holy day; …” I sang this over and over as I walked, and thought about what it meant to walk with Love. In Christian Science, Love with a capital L is another name for God. (Also, Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, and Truth.) The hymn is talking about one of the many facets of God. If I’m walking with Love, I can’t experience fear, or unhappiness. The hymn goes on to say that walking with Love also implies talking with Love and obeying Love. Now, remember that this capitalized Love isn’t the romantic love of novels, but the powerful, healing presence of God. This is a universal quality and can’t be stopped by human beliefs. I’m learning to keep my thoughts filled with Love, to love what I see, to see only love. Now, that seems impossible. But when I remember that God created all and in His own likeness, everything and everyone in reality is Godlike - loving, healthy, joyful, and lovely. I’m learning that it’s up to me to see properly as God, Love, is seeing. Wow, it is great to think of looking at someone or something and not be judgmental, just to love, enjoy the perfection. In walking my neighborhood, I try to only notice the beauty and order, not things that I could think are wrong.As I keep walking and thinking about this, it occurred to me: Can I not only walk with Love and see with Love, but also hear with Love? That would certainly stop gossip in its tracks. What else could fit here?#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, in First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, p. 210, wrote: ”Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.” Do I still have pain in my hip? No, it just faded away, it never was a part of me as a reflection of God, of Love.Carolyn Self is a member of the Christian Science Church, Brookings. To learn more of Christian Science, visit our church Sunday mornings at 11 or Wednesday evenings at 6; our Reading Room in our church building at 429 Pine St. (open Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m.); or check out our local website, cscbrookings.com. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });