A LESSON FROM A DREAM

[Of Special Interest to Children]

ANN OSTENBERG SPAULDING

Jonathan and Charles were roommates. They were also brothers and had always attended the Christian Science Sunday School. They had learned each year to love the Bible more, and also the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and they always turned to God for their help.

One night just as their mother was turning out her light so she could go to sleep, Jonathan came running into her bedroom. He said excitedly, "Come quickly, Mother, Charles has spilled a bottle of ink on the rug."

Mother ran to the boys' room and turned on the light. She found to her surprise that Charles was sleeping peacefully in his own bed, wholly unaware of what was going on. There was no sign of any accident such as Jonathan had told her of.

"Dear," said his mother gently, "you've been dreaming. There is no spilled ink, and, you see, Charles is sound asleep."

"No, no," insisted Jonathan, pointing to the rug under his feet. "Come, see, it's here, Mother, all over the floor."

His mother hugged the sleepy dreamer, tucked him in his bed, and then went back to her own. But until she went to sleep she kept thinking of what had taken place and of the lesson which they all might learn from the experience.

The next morning after breakfast the boys went to the study for what they called their quiet time. It was the few minutes at the beginning of the day when they shut out all other thoughts and gave God their whole attention. This helped them to remember all through the day that they were really God's children, and that they could listen to Him and obey Him. They always felt happy after their quiet time.

On this morning their mother told them about the experience of the night before. They both looked at her in surprise, for Jonathan had forgotten the dream, and Charles had never known anything about it.

Mother then opened the Christian Science textbook to page 250 and read this question: "Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream?" She explained to the boys that the only thoughts that really belong to us are the ones God gives us, but that error sometimes thinks it can fool us into dreaming of error with our eyes wide open. The night before, she reminded them, Jonathan had thought and even insisted that the ink was spilled on the rug, even though he was awake.

They soon saw that Mother never could have helped Jonathan by getting into the dream with him. She could help him only by telling him the truth and waking him out of his belief that the dream was true. They remembered that Jesus was always awake to the truth of everything he saw or did. He was never fooled by what error pretended was real. He told some of his disciples at one time (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray."

The three of them again turned to the textbook and read on page 472: "Error is unreal because untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not." The boys then understood clearly that although the ink Jonathan thought he saw on the rug seemed to him at the time very real, in truth it was not there and had never been. He did not have anything to change or any ink to clean off the rug. He just had to wake up to find the true fact about it.

They then remembered that there had been other times when they seemed to be experiencing a bad dream with their eyes wide open. Once the dream had called itself "polio," and it seemed that Charles was very sick. Mother and Father and a loved practitioner turned from the dream-picture to God in deep and joyous gratitude for His goodness. They recalled that His truth had awakened them from dreams before, and they knew that it could again in this case. Then Charles was lifted completely out of this bad dream instantly and into perfect health.

The boys loved to sing a hymn as their mother drove them to school each morning. This morning they agreed at once on the one they wanted to sing. Everyone who goes to the Christian Science Sunday School knows this hymn and loves it too. It is No. 202 in the Christian Science Hymnal and is about a dreamer. Here is the first verse, which they sang:

O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking,
O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free;
The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,
Unloosing bonds of all captivity.

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