No Barnacles!

[Written Especially for Children]

ELOISE L. PATTILLO

Those of you who have been to the seashore have probably noticed the tiny, shell-like formations that cling to rocks and the supports of piers.

Or perhaps you have visited a wharf where big ocean liners are docked, and have seen these shell-like particles fastened to the hulls of the ships. These formations are called barnacles, and barnacles are not the least bit welcome. In fact, they are an annoyance. They slow down a ship's speed so much that they must be removed from the hull every now and then.

Have we not all found how much more smoothly and happily our days go by when love, joy, obedience, and unselfishness fill our thoughts? And have we not likewise observed how difficult everything seems if we allow suggestions of impatience, hurt feelings, temper, sulkiness, and disobedience to influence us?

Well, those wrong suggestions are very much like the barnacles that cling to a ship, because they interfere with our progress.

There is a difference, however. Because, while ships are helpless to prevent the branacles from attaching themselves, we, through our understanding of Christian Science, can most certainly protect ourselves from wrong thoughts, refusing to admit them even for a minute.

We can do this because we have learned that God is infinite Mind and the source of all real thoughts; that man is the reflection of this Mind, and that, therefore, the only thoughts we can really entertain are good, pure, happy, and loving ones, always coming to us from God.

The mortal mind barnacles of fear, sickness, and discord have no power to become a part of our thinking.

Let us be obedient to divine Love as our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us how in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 210): "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them."

The Bible says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." By obeying these rules we prove that we really are the spiritual, perfect children of God.

Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them the more of them will we see. Blessings brighten when we count them.—Maltbie D. Babcock, D. D.

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