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Expect good!
Lately I’ve been pondering how what we think has a direct impact on our daily experiences. For example, where I live, as soon as the weather starts to cool down for the fall and winter, there’s a constant barrage of announcements from the media about various illnesses that people are expected to succumb to and the measures people can take to supposedly avoid those illnesses. There is a general expectancy that sickness and discomfort will happen.
A friend recently reminded me of something that Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 154). This says to me that I am in charge of my thinking, and so I don’t have to expect to contract seasonal illnesses because they do not originate with God. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (p. 261).
A recent trip I took illustrated this point and showed how thought focused on God, good, is so powerful.
I was standing in line to board a full and already delayed flight. There were a number of families with children who would be traveling. It seemed as if the flight would be a challenging time because some of the children were already crying. Their parents tried to calm them, but other people who were traveling without children started anxiously eyeballing the scene.
I started praying with the above statement from Science and Health, holding my thought to “the enduring, the good, and the true.” I cherished this travel as a right activity for all on board. I knew that everyone there that day had a useful purpose, which would be harmonious for all on the flight.
Once the passengers had boarded the plane, the tense atmosphere completely evaporated. The lead flight attendant welcomed each passenger and joyfully greeted each child by name. She asked the children where they were going and whom they were visiting. It was evident that the flight attendant’s thought was focused, in a sense, on the enduring, good, and true. Her expressions of love and hospitality had a direct impact on the entire flight—there was no crying from the children, but only smiles, laughter, and, for myself and probably the rest of the passengers, a profound sense of gratitude and peace.
This past winter I have held tightly to this deepening understanding of what I’m expecting in thought, and I have actively challenged anything not good, or not of God, that tries to make its way into my thought. I’m still working on this, but I am so grateful I know I can watch my thought and expect only good.
—Anjuli Graunke, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, US