LEARNING THE RULES

[Of Special Interest to Children]

CLAIRE G. CORRIDON

When John and Jane gave a farewell party, some of their friends brought gifts of games and puzzles. These were for the children to play with during a long plane journey they were to take.

Before going to bed that evening, they decided to open one of the boxes and to play the game it contained. John immediately turned the box upside down and started to read the rules to Jane, who was younger and could not yet read.

Jane interrupted him, saying, "Don't bother to read the rules; let's just play."

But her brother replied, "Not only do we have to read them, but we must learn them before we can play correctly."

Jane said that she thought rules were silly; they only wasted time, and it wasn't fun listening to them.

John told her: "It is no good being impatient. We can't make the game work if we don't learn how. Rules are needed, and they must be followed or we would get muddled. Once we know the rules and obey them, we shall always be able to enjoy the game."

John could not quite work out the rules himself, so he asked Mother to help; and a little later both children were happily playing the new game.

The children's conversation reminded their mother that one must always apply the rules of Christian Science instead of listening to the arguments of mortal mind. There is no short cut or side-stepping the rules in the correct use of this Science.

On page 118 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mary Baker Eddy states, "To obey the principle of mathematics ninety-nine times in one hundred and then allow one numeral to make incorrect your entire problem, is neither Science nor obedience."

When it seems that a problem is not working out, we must remind ourselves that the rules are not at fault; it is only our use of them that is faulty. Perhaps we have never bothered to try to understand them. Impatience, doubt, and self-will must be cast out before we are ready to listen to God's voice and feel His guidance. When we obey God only, we can claim the reward of right knowing and doing.

Because the children were going on their trip without their mother, Jane was worried and wondered how she would manage without her mother's care. Eight thousand miles seemed a long journey to take without Mother.

Here was an opportunity for her to use Christian Science and to see that the rules were correctly applied.

Mother asked the children if they remembered one of the first rules they had learned in the Christian Science Sunday School, one which Christ Jesus and his follower, Mrs. Eddy, put first. It is the one which all Christian Scientists try to obey continually. Together they chorused, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This is the First Commandment, found in Exodus (20:3), and "commandment" is just another name for "rule."

A talk on the difference between the words "God" and "gods" followed. Jane soon understood that if she obeyed the First Commandment, she could never be separated from her real Father and Mother, God, who loves and cares for her always.

The children joined with Mother in singing Hymn No. 53 from the Christian Science Hymnal. The third verse reads:

From earth's fears and vain alarms
Safe in His encircling arms,
He will keep us all the way,
God, our refuge, strength and stay.

This hymn made them feel that wherever they were, God's love and protection were with them all the time. The children were beginning to understand that being good and being obedient to the rules of Christian Science meant that they were opening the door for God's goodness, and so they could expect to enjoy only goodness during their long trip.

The children decided that even if they could not sing aloud on the plane, they were going to keep on singing to themselves the words from this hymn.

The children arrived safely, and they both agreed that it was really no different from taking a bus ride and that there was certainly nothing to worry about ever again.

Jane has since made several long trips by plane without her mother. Although she is now old enough to read the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly and to learn to apply the rules for herself, she still remembers the lesson of that earlier journey and uses the same truths whenever they are needed.

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THERE IS A SURE WAY OF ESCAPE

April 25, 1959

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