Article March 31, 1917 Issue

Fear and Pain Denied

MAY SMITH

There comes a time in the experience of every seeker after truth when he faces the parting of the ways, when a decision must be made; and with what perfect willingness does he see mortal beliefs go,—all the falsities of pain and sorrow, fear and failure, all the wrong thinking and wrong doing. Even when to our limited understanding we seem to have grasped but little of the truth of being, that little has brought such a sense of peace and joy that the experience awakens a desire to know more.

Well do I remember an incident that occurred when I was not very far advanced in Science. One of my hands was injured, and as I clasped it in the other and closed my eyes in silent denial of the seeming power of pain, my little granddaughter, a child of three years, who was with me at the time, said, "Grandmother, tell God about it." To this I gladly responded, and when we reached my room and were seated, she leaned her arms upon my knee and together we, she in her baby way and I in mine, repeated the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), which declares that "God is All-in-all." To me the instinctive turning to God for help on the part of the little child was beautiful; her simple faith and trust, knowing nothing else but God, good, was most helpful. The child did not forget to turn to divine Love, while the older one was fighting a belief of fear.

If we walk with our faces turned toward the light of Truth and Love,—like Jacob as he stood in the light of a new understanding, after a night of darkness and doubt when he had struggled with error until the victory was won,—we in reaching out for the "things which are before" will bring into our lives the realization of the living presence and all-power of good. Like the little child, we can turn to God under all circumstances; put our trust in a loving Father who is, as Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 7), the "all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied."

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