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Safe from the swarm
A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to spend the evening at an outdoor showing of the independent film Queen of the Sun. The film told the story of beekeepers around the world, and explained the current problem of the alarming decline of bee populations. As we sat down on a blanket in the grass, I felt so grateful for this opportunity to get away from the noisy city and spend some quieter time in the outdoors. It was a warm summer evening, and I loved being surrounded by the fresh smells of plants and flowers and the sounds of little critters happily chirping under a starry night sky.
Much to my dismay, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes! I was incessantly swatting at my face, my arms, my legs, and my ears. It looked as if the evening was going to be not so enjoyable after all. How ironic, I thought! Here I was, embracing this opportunity to feel the peace of the outdoors and to pray for the bees, and instead, these mosquitoes were bombarding me, making me completely irritated and uncomfortable.
In that moment, I felt helpless. And yet my study and understanding of Christian Science caused me to stop and think again. The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, “We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 129). Was I actually helpless then? No, because I knew God, divine Love, was present, filling all space and that I therefore didn’t have to accept the limited perspective that things around me were inharmonious.
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