Zach was in the seventh grade, and took his after-school baby-sitting job very seriously. In fact, he was able to teach his first-grade friend, Jonah, a lot of new things on the computer, help him with his reading assignments, and even show him how to skip rocks at the creek in their neighborhood. Looking after Jonah was great fun and made Zach feel grown up. He also liked knowing he was helping Mom with the extra money he was earning.

One hot afternoon after school, Zach and Jonah could hardly wait to go to the creek behind Jonah's house and have a rock skipping contest. Things went along pretty well for a while. Then, Jonah, wanting to skip the rocks as far as Zach, wound up to throw, but the rock slipped out of his hand and hit Zach's eye.

Jonah was very frightened. He thought Zach would be really mad at him and wouldn't baby-sit for him anymore. He yelled for help right away. He told Zach over and over how sorry he was. Zach was able to tell Jonah that he knew he hadn't meant to hurt him and that everything was going to be OK.

By the time the neighbors came to help, Zach and Jonah were already at Zach's house, which was nearby. Zach's mom thanked Jonah for helping and took Zach inside. She was proud of Zach for forgiving Jonah right away, and told him that forgiveness opens our eyes to see the goodness of God's love and care all around us. Mom cleaned Zach's eye up, but it still hurt, and he was not able to see out of it. He was feeling scared.

Zach and his mom turned to God in prayer for what they needed to see about the situation. Both of them knew that God made all of His children spiritual and perfect, and that He is with them every moment. A lie called an accident could not happen in God's kingdom, and it could not change the forever fact of Zach's perfection. One dictionary definition of perfect includes the words "flawless" and "complete."

On page 397 of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, it says: "When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, 'I am hurt!' Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real.

"Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be."

Mom had been baking cupcakes. She told Zach that in making a cake, you include only the ingredients the cake recipe calls for. What comes out of the oven, then, is not an apple pie! It must be a cake, of course. Zach and his mom laughed at that thought, and he got the idea that he couldn't ever be anything but what God made him to be—perfect! Zach's eye didn't hurt anymore, but he still could not see.

They decided to call a Christian Science practitioner to help them realize Zach's complete perfection as God's child. The practitioner reminded Zach about the Bible verse from Genesis that says, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (1:31). He also encouraged Zach to think about Hymn 304 in the Christian Science Hymnal. It starts out, "Shepherd, show me how to go ...." This hymn tells about how the Shepherd, God, cares for His sheep, His children. Zach and his mom sang this hymn until he fell asleep that night.

When Zach woke up the next morning, his eyesight was back to normal. He was perfectly fine! Jonah came over to check up on Zach. He was so happy to see Zach's smiling, flawless face. He wanted to know if they could go rock skipping again—if he promised to be more careful this time. Zach said, "Yes!" All of the neighbors who had come to help the boys were also very glad to see that Zach was all better. "In fact," Zach thought, as he and Jonah walked to the creek eating their cupcakes, "everything is just perfect!"

Zach's note: I am writing to verify that this healing in fact happened to me and I am the full recipient of its blessings.

DCM