Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Things, thoughts, and treetops
Recently, I was talking to a friend about thinking metaphysically by changing “things into thoughts.” Mary Baker Eddy explains that “divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 123 ).
My friend brought up an example of a tree. She said that a tree could represent spiritual qualities such as strength, beauty, continuity, life, and shelter. And if you asked someone else what they thought, you might get a list of completely different qualities.
I recalled an example of how I applied this type of prayer when Hurricane Ike was over my home in Houston, Texas. As the storm raged, you could hear the strong wind and see the trees dramatically swaying. I thought about how the trees, which usually sheltered our house from hot Texas sun, are actually ideas of God, and that those ideas are enduring, harmonious, and productive.
Then I heard what sounded like a tree falling, but it was too dark for me to see what had happened. In the morning, I found that a big oak tree had been snapped in half. The top half of the tree had fallen between my house and my neighbor’s house—a space just big enough to accommodate the treetop. It didn’t damage either house. Though other rather large branches had fallen around our homes, none had fallen on top of our houses or onto the cars parked in our driveway, cars belonging to friends staying with us who’d had to evacuate their own homes. We sustained no damage at all, despite the massive amount of debris. In fact, we made a pile of broken branches that was about 20 feet long.
Later, I heard on the news that you shouldn’t expect a tree to survive if more than one-third of the top breaks off. I prayed by confirming in my thinking that God was the only creator, that His creation is eternal, and that nothing can take away the spiritual qualities that the tree represented. That big oak tree that had been snapped did live and is now more beautiful and full than ever before. It continues to provide much-needed shade for our house.
—Claudia Boozman McCracken Gerault, Spring, Texas, US