Article February 16, 1952 Issue

Pupils Learn to Overcome Fear

Children are naturally receptive to Truth. They readily grasp the fact that their Father-Mother God loves His children with an infinite love, and they joyously accept the peace and harmony which come with the realization of this truth. Perhaps the elders do not always comprehend how far-reaching is the truth in the daily life of the spiritually enlightened child, how it quiets his fears and gives him a basis for thinking that enables him to reject the false claims of evil and to accept as real only that which is good.

The child of today, by means of radio and other methods of communication, is perhaps daily subjected to influences which would tend to fill his thought with fear unless counteracted In some understanding of the truth of being. One Sunday School teacher had in her class a little boy who appeared to be shy and fearful and who was reluctant to enter into the class discussions. She called on the child's mother in an effort to find out how-she might best help him. In the course of the conversation the teacher learned that the boy had an intense fear of the atom bomb and that he lived in expectation of the bombing of the city in which he dwelt. The teacher began at once to help the boy gain a clearer understanding of the love of his Father-Mother God, to assure him that divine Love is always at hand and affords protection in any and all circumstances. In a very short while the child was freed of shyness and fear and entered joyously into the class discussions. His entire outlook had changed.

Another worker tells the following experience in teaching a class of little ones. The subject of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly was " Truth." and she pointed out to the pupils the statement from page 223 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, "Remember that truth is greater than error, and we cannot put the greater into the less." She had them repeat the first part of the statement, "Remember that truth is greater than error," until they could say it from memory. She talked with them about the passage so that they could make it practical in their daily activities. Then she asked them to think silently for a moment on the statement. This, the teacher felt, would help them to comprehend the significance of silent prayer in Sunday School.

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