It is reassuring to know one can remain healthy at a time when disease is being magnified and potentially multiplied by publicity. Many of the reports about disease are well intentioned and meant as a public service. There is, however, a side to all the current media attention that thoughtful citizens should be aware of. Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health: "The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought." ^{Science and Health, pp. 196–197.}

Fortunately, no one actually has to live with the tormenting worry "Will I be next to become ill?" There is a way not only to eliminate fear of these maladies but to prevent them from occurring. The Way-shower, Christ Jesus, admonished his disciples: "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." ^{Mark 13:37.} Through the study and application of Christian Science, one may learn how to watch, how to defend oneself from disease and suffering. The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, contains many things one can do mentally, prayerfully, to safeguard his physical harmony. For example, it tells us: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them." ^{Science and Health, p. 392.}

Christian Science, in accord with the inspired Word of the Bible, teaches that God is the invariably loving and only cause, the sole creator of the universe, including man, and that this creation is spiritual, wholly good. As we learn from the Bible, man is God's handiwork, is like Him. Accepting the Biblical revelation of the spiritual nature of all being, Christian Science shows us that in truth all cause and effect are spiritual, and this effect is the flawless work of God, divine Mind.

Christ Jesus emphasized the effect of what we entertain in thought. He said: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. ... Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart." ^{Matt. 15:11, 18.}

When a person learns that thought affects every aspect of his life, he sees the necessity of replacing fearful, sickly thoughts with truths that uplift his understanding to the recognition that he actually is spiritual. He sees the importance of conforming to the Christly standard Jesus established for all mankind. No matter what others may be falsely believing about sickness and disease, we don't have to abjectly surrender our peace of mind and harmony but may instead exercise our God-given power over suffering.

Because you and I are actually the reflection of infinite, harmonious Spirit and include only those qualities Spirit imparts— peace, joy, health, dominion—the suffering and fear that may seem so real have no genuine power over us. They are misconceptions, false beliefs, not actual God-created conditions. And being misconceptions, they can be corrected with the truth of man's inseparable relationship to God, of his uninterrupted well-being as God's reflection. This truth protects and heals.

When we understand that man, under God's supreme government, reflects divine power and ability, we are better able to control our thoughts and so our daily lives. Each one of us is a free moral agent, possessing the God-bestowed capacity to choose the spiritually true and reject the false, choose divine ideas and reject mortal suggestions. No one can do this for us, and no matter how pervasive and blatant the media coverage of disease may be, no one can prevent us from doing it. It is a completely individual act, and each one of us is responsible for his own thoughts regarding the subject of health.

A well-known verse from Psalms declares, "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." ^{Ps. 91:9, 10.} The potent, spiritual truths of Christian Science make this Bible promise practical for us, provable right now.

No one need feel helpless, even should symptoms of disease appear. Instead of doing nothing while bodily discomfort or incapacity develops, we can reject the belief that we are subject to anything but God. Science and Health says, "Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims, for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease and ward it off, as positively as they can the temptation to sin." And it continues a few lines later, "Tell the sick that they can meet disease fearlessly, if they only realize that divine Love gives them all power over every physical action and condition." ^{Science and Health, p. 420.}

Thousands of people today are successfully preventing—or if need be, healing—pain and disability, proving them to be untrue. Empowered with the Christly understanding of Truth that the study of Christian Science affords, any sincere individual can demonstrate the fact that health and well-being are divinely established in man.