Article March 11, 1916 Issue

Thoughts for a Beginner

LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY

Many surprises are often in store for the one who has just turned to Christian Science for help, and perhaps not the least of these is the difficulty he seems to experience in getting the practitioner to realize the extreme gravity of the situation with which he is confronted. This physical trouble from which the patient seeks relief has been, perhaps for years, the dominating factor in his thought. Its type and general symptoms, past history, present status, and future outlook are of such absorbing interest to him that he is somewhat disconcerted to discover that a recital of its various details does not appear to be received by the practitioner with that respectful consideration which he feels to be its due.

It is possible, the patient wonders, that the practitioner does not understand how sick he really is! He hears a cheery voice say: "Well, that does seem to have been pretty bad, doesn't it? Suppose we talk about something pleasanter. Suppose for just a little while we talk about God and His goodness and love, and how He never wants any of His children to be sick and unhappy."

This is certainly disconcerting to mortal sense; in fact the patient may feel a bit piqued to have his long-cherished affliction treated with such scant respect. He receives treatment, however, and goes home to think it over; and the main thing which he finds himself thinking over is what the practitioner told him about God. Nothing new, of course, nothing but what he has already read in the Bible many times before; but somehow as the words were spoken they seemed to have a new meaning. "God is Love," he had been told, and how could Love send sickness upon His children? "He sent his word, and healed them,"—His word, not medicine. "With God all things are possible,"—not some things, or most things, but "all things," even the cure of rheumatism. As these thoughts linger in memory, the day suddenly seems to grow brighter with a new-born hope. Suppose it should all be true! "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,"—the wonder and sweetness of it rests upon his tired sense like some heavenly benediction. He goes to sleep that night with a peace in his heart which he has not known in years; and the next morning he is so surprised to discover that his rheumatism is gone that he is not at all disturbed over the manner of its going.

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