Article May 13, 2013 Issue

The care that never leaves us

Sharon Carper

There I sat, on a sheet of ice in the middle of the street in front of our house. My dog strained at the leash, anxious to get across the road to the deep snow for a good romp.

It was the second time in a couple of weeks that I’d found myself sitting, stunned, on glare ice. It had been an uneven winter of snow, ice, and freezing rain, but I couldn’t stay inside because my dog loved her six o’clock walks! This winter was different from previous ones, though—my husband, my soulmate, had passed on a few months ago and I was having a hard time being alone, especially if I had a fall or an emergency. Usually he would be with me, I reasoned, not only to pray with me, but to bring me hot soup while I rested on the couch. I knew I had to get over this fear of falling and being alone, and wishing someone was there to take care of me.

The first time the ice fooled me, I moved with great difficulty afterward, walking and sitting slowly. I knew that God, my Father-Mother (Mary Baker Eddy defines God, in her spiritual interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer, as “Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious” [Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 16]), had not abandoned me. But as I carried on my daily activities, from quietly sitting in a chair to driving or even looking forward to a trip that would require long plane rides, I couldn’t seem to move or sit without a lot of pain. I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. When she heard my description of the fall on the ice, my movements and difficulties, she reminded me that what had happened was a “nonevent.” In other words, God’s plan—the only reality—never includes my falling out of His love and care! Wow. I set about to stop focusing on and talking about the fall, and instead to think about my God-given dominion and the blessings of freedom and ease that She gives me.