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Handling serpents
I was sitting on a chaise outside on my screened porch, reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson. The Lesson that week included the Bible story in which God commands Moses to cast his rod on the ground (see Exodus 4:2–5 ). Moses obeys and sees the rod become a serpent. He flees from the serpent, but God tells him to come back and pick it up by the tail. Moses does as commanded, and the serpent becomes once again a rod in his hand—and then his fear abates.
Just after reading this story, I looked up and no more than five feet in front of me, inside my screened porch, was a large snake staring right at me! I jumped up and told it, “No, no, you can’t be here!” I immediately ran into the house and locked the door. I looked out, and I saw the snake slithering along the floor until it finally squeezed itself out through a gap under the screen door and went back into the woods behind our home.
I gathered up my courage and went back outside to continue my study of the Bible Lesson. I wondered if there was a lesson for me in this experience. Were there any metaphorical serpents in my life that I needed to handle? I didn’t think so, but then it occurred to me that I was dreading a real estate business meeting later that week.
The buyers, whom I represented, were in a heated dispute with a builder regarding some issues that had come up on the property where their house was being built. I had been praying to calm my fears about the situation and to try to respect both points of view, but up to that point I hadn’t found any peace.
Then it came to me simply to pray the Lord’s Prayer. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes of this prayer: “Our Master said, ‘After this manner therefore pray ye,’ and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs” (p. 16 ). Knowing that this prayer covers all human needs, I prayed with it and with its spiritual interpretation that’s given in Science and Health (see pp. 16–17 ), often over the next several days.
On the day of the scheduled meeting, I arrived early and sat in my car, praying. I began by concentrating just on the first line of the prayer:
“Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious.”
The phrase “all-harmonious” really spoke to me. Why, of course! This was going to be a harmonious meeting, not adversarial, because God is all-harmonious and we are all God’s children. This wouldn’t be an us versus them meeting. It wasn’t going to be dealing with entrenched positions, or about who was right and wrong, but about what was right.
When the meeting began, my clients and I were greeted warmly. One of the corporate vice presidents who was there started asking what the issues were and wrote them down one by one. Then he said, “We want happy customers; let’s resolve these issues.” One by one the issues were all resolved. Ideas and remedies were suggested that were beyond what had been previously imagined. Soon, we were all laughing happily and joking.
The meeting turned out to be very harmonious. It was indeed an example to me of just how the Lord’s Prayer does cover all human needs.
I am so grateful for the Bible, Science and Health, and the weekly Bible Lesson-Sermon, which always provides guidance for our spiritual growth.
—Jan McCall, Apopka, Florida, US