Article September 25, 1971 Issue

Needed—Light-shiners

LAURA FRETZ SCHUMAKER

Most of us have at some time heard the story of an inexperienced camper who has found himself lost in the woods at night. He can see nothing around him but blackness—no shelter, no sign of a path. Towering shadows threaten to engulf him. He is sure to see wolf-eyes gleaming out of the darkness. Trembling and alone, he stands in uncertainty and fear, wishing fervently to be somewhere else.

Then someone comes along with a flashlight, and suddenly he sees a very different picture. Those fearsome shadows are really trees— big, sheltering trees. Below them are bushes, and the gleaming eyes that frightened him so turn out to belong to a curious rabbit. Between the bushes and trees he sees a path to follow, and farther on a clearing and perhaps even a road or a building. All these good, helpful things were there all the time, but he could see only darkness, and so he was afraid.

In the darkness of material sense we may sometimes feel surrounded by uncertainty and fear—by disease, lack, or inharmony. We may feel sure that if only we could change places, be among different people, things would not be so fearsome. But the fact is that darkness, ignorance, can make even the best place seem fraught with evil. And the light of Truth, coming through Christian Science, can show us that, in reality, wherever we are, only good is present, ready to help us as soon as we recognize and claim it.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Right Relationships Are in Mind