Article May 19, 1923 Issue

Practical Demonstration

SARAH W. TAYLOR

We are assured in Christian Science that divine Principle is applicable to all the minutiae of human affairs; that nothing is too commonplace to respond to its power. In the way analogous to that by which the laws of liquids govern alike the drop of dew and the waters of the wide ocean, so divine Principle knows no changeableness, "neither shadow of turning," let the problem be ever so small or ever so great.

Sometimes it puzzles a beginner in the demonstration of Christian Science to understand how spiritual truth can reach and heal a seemingly material difficulty. Perhaps the following experience will throw light on the point, as it deals with the very common occurrence of automobile trouble.

Our car had been very carefully overhauled by an expert, and no expense had been spared to insure a perfect result. A test trip of some three hundred miles seemed to prove the wisdom of the outlay, and we felt happy confidence in planning a more extensive journey for an approaching holiday. We invited friends to share the pleasure with us; and in order that we might look our best for the occasion, we sent the car to a professional, to be washed and polished, several days before the intended start. On attempting to run the car home, what was our dismay to find that it refused to start. Again and again the self-starter was coaxed to respond, the only result being an alarming explosive noise, but no action. The expert mechanic was called on the telephone. He failed to understand the difficulty then, but said he would get around before night and try to locate the trouble for us, even though he might have to send us elsewhere to have it remedied. All day we waited for him, but he failed to appear. The next morning we again tried to start the car, and again it baffled us, as did our mechanic also, although he apologized over the telephone for being unable to come the previous day, promising to get to us before noon. The forenoon, however, passed with no sign of him. By this time we thought we saw our holiday trip vanishing. The anxiety was accentuated by the fear of disappointing our friends, who might have used the holiday to advantage in some other way; in fact, we were "all on edge," the owner of the car going the length of rehearsing the severe telephone message he meant to send to the mechanic. Fear and its confederates—resentment, irritation, condemnation, and the like—were all "in the saddle"!

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