A Child's Demonstration

JULIA M. JOHNSTON

When Elizabeth was a very small baby, someone had told her mother about Christian Science. Her mother had been sick for a long time, so she was very grateful when Christian Science healed her mother quickly. If her dear mother had never been told about Christian Science, it might have made a very great difference to Elizabeth, because there might not have been anyone to explain to her how people can be healed, and can help others by knowing the thoughts of God.

One morning Elizabeth thought that she could not go to school, for a headache seemed to try to make her believe that it belonged to her. She did not think of asking any person to help her, for her mother had taught her always to ask God, since it is God's power that heals. So she started for school thinking some thoughts which God was giving to her as she went along. Of course, these thoughts were about good and its presence and the peace it gives to man. When she reached the schoolroom she felt so bad that she could not see the figures on the blackboard. But she kept right on thinking good, because she knew that pain always has to give up when you understand the presence and power of good. Elizabeth knew that God gave her all that she really had, and that God is Love. Love could not make a headache, because sickness is not lovely. So it could not be hers if God never made it nor gave it to her.

When she was really sure of this—instead of just saying it—and was glad about it, the headache went away. When you are glad about good, this means that you do not believe in error any more. And then you know that error is not real. If it had been real for a single minute, Elizabeth thought, it could not have gone away and gone nowhere. So error was just a lie, and a lie never belongs to anybody and is never true. It was so good to find this out; it made her very thankful to feel how close she was to Love that is God, and to see how quick Love had been to help her when she just tried to know what Love knows, which is that good is all there is.

When Elizabeth reached home that day the very first thing she did was to tell her mother about what had happened. There was such a lovely light in her mother's face as she listened and replied, "Yes, dear, that was a good demonstration." Then her mother started to say something else, but stopped. She always knew when to wait for God to teach her little girl something in such a way that she would never forget it. And that was one of the reasons why Elizabeth loved her mother so very, very much.

One afternoon, soon after Elizabeth had had her demonstration, she went to play with a friend. But great was her disappointment to find that her playmate was believing in the seeming reality of a headache, and was thinking that she would have to go home. She was so sorry that her friend did not believe in Christian Science, and that she was not permitted to help her. Then Elizabeth began to think how beautifully she had been healed in school. She wished that everybody who believed in headaches knew that they could be healed by Love just as she had been. And all of a sudden the most interesting thought came to her. It came to her so quickly that she was surprised and stood still on the sidewalk for a minute. Then she began to run home as fast as ever she could to ask her mother about it.

Elizabeth was going to ask a very big question, and so much depended upon the answer. She had to ask it, as she was not quite sure about the wonderful thought that had come to her. But she was almost sure. So, as soon as she found her mother, and had caught her breath from running, the two sat down together, and Elizabeth, looking very straight into mother's eyes, said, "Am I really healed of believing in headaches until I know that nobody ever had one, and nobody ever will have one, because headaches are not real?"

Elizabeth's mother put her arms very gently around the little girl and in a quiet voice replied, "No, darling." This was what the child wanted to hear, because then she saw that when one had a demonstration, it meant so much more than just feeling well again. It meant also that one had learned something true, and something that was always true for everybody, as well as for one's self. That must have been the way Jesus healed so many people, by knowing the truth about them while he lived it himself. Surely, there could be nothing lovelier or greater than this to do in all the world.

There was so much to learn from all these thoughts that Elizabeth wanted to be quite by herself in her own room where she could be very still and think. As she got up from her chair her mother said, "Darling, take your Bible and turn to I John 3:18." When the child had shut her door she eagerly took her book and turned to the reference. These were the precious words she read in the Scriptures: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

The room was very still, while there was born in the heart of a child the holy desire to become a Christian Science practitioner.

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1959 - PAMPHLET

Elizabeth and Andy

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1937 - PAMPHLET

A child's own pamphlet

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