Article July 7, 1973 Issue

LARRY LISTENS

to the still small voice

Elaine Waller Hunter

Summer vacation had just begun. Like any eight-year-old, Larry had been looking forward to it for weeks. He would fill his summer days with all kinds of happy things. He'd ride his bike fast as the wind and pretend he was a cowboy galloping across the plains. And best of all he'd get to go to the beach. It would be fun to feel the warm sand between his toes, and collect all kinds of beach stones. He'd run as fast as he could right into those big waves. Boy, vacation was going to be great!

But it wasn't turning out that way. Instead, he was miserable. He had gotten sunburned. He looked red as a lobster, and the pain had made him cry. Maybe you'd expect his mother just to put on some sunburn lotion and hope the pain would go away in a couple of days. But Larry's mother wanted him to be free of the pain right away—really free. She knew God's help was needed. And Larry needed first to understand God and himself better. So here's what she did. She opened the Christian Science textbook and read to him Mrs. Eddy's definition: "Sun. The symbol of Soul governing man,—of Truth, Life, and Love."^{Science and Health, p. 595;}

"How could something that is a symbol of Love hurt you, Larry?" she asked him. "Let's know there is no power that can steal away your enjoyment of these beautiful sunny days." The telephone rang, and Mother went to answer it. Larry looked at his red shoulders in the mirror, and the pain began again. He started to cry. His mother was busy on the telephone in another room and didn't hear him this time. Pretty soon he was feeling so sorry for himself, and the hurt seemed so real, that he began to scream. And then in his misery and unhappiness he pulled books and toys from his shelves and threw them about his room. He felt so alone.

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