Steven pushed his marshmallow closer to the dying campfire and listened to the boys singing camp songs.

Every summer he looked forward to these ten days at Big Grizzly. There were old friendships to renew, hikes through beautiful pine forests, and canoe trips on Mystery Lake. Maybe they would find a secret island! He hoped so.

Big Grizzly was a camp for Christian Scientists. Before breakfast Steven gathered with his friends to read the Lesson-Sermon from the Christian Science Quarterly. All the campers were given time each morning for the lesson.

The third morning, Steven awoke with pain in his mouth. A tooth, which was still under his gum, felt very uncomfortable. His first thought was to call his parents, but then he decided to pray about it himself. He felt a great desire to prove his dominion over this false suggestion of fear and pain. He knew that if he gave in to it he wouldn't be able to join in the camp's activities.

Steven opened his Bible to the New Testament and began to read. This statement of truth stood out: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." ^{Hebr. 4:12;}

"What is my intent?" questioned Steven to himself. He remembered a statement of Mrs. Eddy's from the lesson for that week: "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way." ^{Science and Health, p. 326.} With joy he realized, "Why, my intent is to express harmony, to know my true selfhood as God's likeness. If I listen for the Father's voice, He will direct my next step."

Suddenly Steven thought to ask his counselor for a copy of Mrs. Eddy's prose works. He took the copy and went to study in his cabin, where it was quiet.

He sat on his bunk and began to read. On page 44 of Miscellaneous Writings Mrs. Eddy was asked this question: "If I have the toothache, and nothing stops it until I have the tooth extracted, and then the pain ceases, has the mind, or extracting, or both, caused the pain to cease?"

These parts of Mrs. Eddy's answer seemed especially helpful to him: "You believed that if the tooth were extracted, the pain would cease: this demand of mortal thought once met, your belief assumed a new form, and said, There is no more pain. When your belief in pain ceases, the pain stops; for matter has no intelligence of its own." And on the next page she adds, "The full understanding that God is Mind, and that matter is but a belief, enables you to control pain."

Steven read this several times. He reasoned that since God is the only power, a false belief has no power. He saw that his substance was all good. He refused to believe in pain. Although he still felt some discomfort, he played a game of volleyball. Later, in the afternoon, he went with some friends on a hike and ate a good dinner that evening. Whenever his gum bothered him, he would declare his perfection and remember the unreality of pain.

That night around the campfire they had church—a testimony meeting. As Steven listened to his friends expressing gratitude for Christ Jesus' example and for Christian Science, he was filled with an appreciation for the evidences of health and spiritual progress that he too had experienced.

The next morning Steven woke and found that a molar had come through his gum and all pain had disappeared. Steven read the lesson with a feeling of great joy that his Father did "open the way."

Then the breakfast bell sounded, and the scent of fried bacon hung on the morning air.

Steven followed it.