Article August 24, 1946 Issue

Be Not Afraid!

[Of Special Interest to Children]

GRACE CHANNELL WASSON

On the shores of a sparkling lake in a northern state, Gail was attending summer camp for the first time. Enthusiastically she entered into all the various activities of camp life, but when it came to the swimming period she always managed to have some reason for being absent.

At the assembly one morning an announcement was read that swimming would be a requirement for all campers. This was a blow to Gail, and in tears she went to one of the counselors, who was a Christian Scientist like herself, saying that she just couldn't take swimming. The counselor saw that it was nothing but fear that kept Gail from enjoying swimming. Remembering that our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901, "A man's fear, unconquered, conquers him, in whatever direction" (p. 13), she took the young camper down to the water's edge to talk things over.

It wasn't long before Gail poured out her story. Two summers before, she had been on a lake when the boat she was in had overturned, and the following summer a similar experience had left unhappy memories which had kept her from learning to swim and had left a dread of going near the water or even in a boat. Humbly the counselor lifted her thought in silent prayer for inspiration, that she might be guided to aid Gail in overcoming this fear and thus gaining her freedom.

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