The House with the Colored Windows

Dick and Dorothy had recently moved to a farm on a hillside, and were delighted to find, on the very top of the hill, a small summer house in which they could play. From this little summer house one could look out over the whole world below, or so it seemed, and in the near distance were fields of corn and a stretch of pasture land where a white horse grazed contentedly.

Now a feature of the summer house was a series of windows, one of red glass, one yellow, one green, and one blue. The fifth and last window was of the usual type, clear and transparent.

One day when the children were playing on the top of the hill, Dick heard Dorothy cry out, "Come and see the red horse!" Incredulous, Dick came running into the house where his sister was standing before the red window, looking out at "Whitie."

"I don't see any red horse," said he; then, catching the spirit of the fun, he said, "But I do see a big green one!" Where do you suppose he was standing? Of course—in front of the green window!

The game continued. They both saw a yellow horse when they looked from the yellow window. And when they looked through the blue window, of course they saw a blue horse. Indeed, the whole landscape seemed to take on the color of the pane of glass through which they saw it.

"But this nice clear window makes everything all right again," declared Dick. "It's our own 'Whitie' after all. I had begun to think I'd have to scrub his color off, and give him a coat of whitewash." And he chuckled to himself.

Dorothy, however, was not listening for it had suddenly occurred to her that there was a lesson in their little play, a lesson to help them in Christian Science. Both children attended the Christian Science Sunday School, where they were learning about the real man. Sometimes it had seemed to her that there was also another "man," who was often unhappy or sick or cross. Sometimes it had been hard to find and see the real man of God's creating.

"Why it's just like the horse and the windows!" she exclaimed to Dick and Mother at lunch time. "You see, there was only one horse, and he was white. There never was a red horse or a blue one or one of any other color in the pasture."

"Yes." agreed her brother. "What made us think we saw four or five different horses was the place from which we were looking, I know that if we stand in the right place—that is with Principle—and look with spiritual sense, we can't help seeing what is really there."

Their mother smiled. "You saw the real white horse through that last window, didn't you? What are some of the qualities that clear window had? Perhaps if we try to reflect these qualities—purity and transparent goodness—we shall reflect the spiritual vision that sees things as they really are."

"For one thing," said Dick thoughtfully, "the last window wasn't 'colored' by any mortal mind beliefs. It was a clean, spotless window, too, Mother, or else we should have seen a speckled horse! "

Then their mother sent the little boy to find a reference in Science and Health (pp. 476.477 ), and when he had found it he read it aloud: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

"Oh, I see," said Dorothy. "It's like that Bible verse. 'Now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.'"

"Just one more thing." said Mother. "What did you children have to do to that red horse to make him white again?"

Both looked at her in complete amazement. Then they realized she was helping them to find still another lesson.

"Do to him?" queried Dick. "But, Mother, there never was any red horse! Oh! Then there really never was any sick or unhappy person, either. And we don't have to change the sick person or unhappy person that seems to be; we only have to look at him from the right standpoint. Isn't that it, Mother?"

"Yes, indeed. And seeing the true man in this way is seeing our brother as God gives us to see him. We can never see God's image and likeness by using our material senses, for they are like the colored windows—all deceivers. We must see everything and everybody as God knows them. I think I'll join you tomorrow on your hill-top and we'll look at each other through the different panes of glass. Won't that be fun?"

Dorothy agreed that she would love to see a green Dick or a blue Mother, as long as she knew they were not real.

"And then we'll take a long look out over the universe and remember that we must always see it as perfect and eternal, as God-created and God-protected," continued Mother. "Yes, I think we shall all become world workers if we continue to keep in thought our lesson of the house with the colored windows."

And then, while the boy and girl gathered close to her, she took her copy of "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mrs. Eddy and read these words from page 330 : "The alders bend over the streams to shake out their tresses in the water-mirrors; let mortals bow before the creator, and, looking through Love's transparency, behold man in God's image and likeness, arranging in the beauty of holiness each budding thought."