When my teenage daughter realized she would be without her phone for an entire summer, her response caught me off guard: “It’s actually a relief!” I was surprised, not because she’s especially attached to her phone, but because her expression of relief was so genuine. She later said that the break from her phone made her more awake to her creative interests and to being fully present with others.
Her experience highlighted something important. If a simple break from our phone can open the door to greater mental awareness and presence, what would a deeper, spiritual wakefulness do for us? This is not just about being more attentive to our surroundings or relationships, but about being fully present in our oneness with God, mentally alert to the good that’s always at hand.
Mindless routines, familiar distractions, or merely emotional responses – worry, self-doubt, busyness – can dull our spiritual perception and have us drifting along in a mental fog. This is a subtle form of being mesmerized by modern life. In the Apostle Paul’s teachings to some early Christians, he appealed to them to “serve the Lord without distraction” (I Corinthians 7:35, New King James Version). Seeking to understand God better enables us to be more conscious of the ever-present activity of God as the one, infinite Mind than we are of the issues in our lives.
As we cultivate an active awareness of unfolding divine good through the rousing message of Christ – the true idea of God – not only does this keep us from mentally sleepwalking through the day, but it helps us become more awake to the vital reality and ever-presence of the divine Mind. Everyone, as God’s expression, reflects this infinite, spiritual consciousness and can find the willingness to “bow before Christ, Truth, to receive more of his reappearing” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 35). Christly insights that transform our thinking and awaken us to divine goodness fuel and support our spiritual growth.
Being spiritually awake means recognizing the true, divinely imbued individuality of others – especially in situations where it seems really difficult. Intentionally seeking to express Godlike qualities, such as kindness, honesty, strength, and intelligence, uplifts everyday life. We begin to see more spiritually – as God, Spirit, sees.
But when we feel a desire to help others awaken spiritually, we must begin by checking our own understanding of God. Mrs. Eddy’s response to a question about the role the healer plays in helping others gives some direction: “The honest student of Christian Science is purged through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in the ennobling strife” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896,” p. 41).
Being “purged through Christ” – being alerted to anything fear-based or separate from God in our thinking – is one way of awakening spiritually. It lifts us above the mental fog of worry, self-doubt, and idleness. Attaining and sustaining this alertness is the ongoing work of Christian salvation, and it shows the necessity of being willing to be regularly revitalized and renewed by the spirit of Christ that Jesus explained and proved.
In the Bible, we see that real awakening often begins when people challenge commonly held assumptions about life as mortal and material. Take the case of a man who had been ill for 38 years and lay helplessly beside a pool believed to hold curative powers, hoping to be able to access the waters that he thought would cure him (see John 5:2-9).
Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well. The man certainly did, but didn’t see how it could happen. There was no one who could or would help him in the way conventional belief dictated – being first to be dipped in the pool when the water began to move. But Jesus saw the man as wholly spiritual, the image and likeness of God, Spirit. He told him to get up and walk. This instruction awakened the man’s consciousness, and he immediately got up and walked – roused by the spiritual authority of Christ to see himself as God made him, already well and free.
Jesus’ direction cut across cultural expectations and human reasoning. It pointed to the one ever-present, divine power. And when the man obeyed, he was immediately healed. The blessing was already there, awaiting his recognition.
Anytime we think we’re trudging along in a matter-based life, distracted by one thing or another from feeling present with God, Christ wakes us up to who we actually are and the true nature of our being as spiritual. And this not only helps our own life but also helps awaken the world to our eternal safety, love, and health in divine Love’s presence and care for us.
Adapted from an editorial published in the March 16, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
