Editorial September 16, 1996 Issue

God, our thoughts, and the weather

Barbara M. Vining

I Used to watch the weather as if it were a spectator sport! And how the weather was doing (in my view) had a lot to do with my outlook on life day by day. Every morning I would look out the window and decide, according to the weather, what mood I would be in—sunny or gloomy.

This habit was given a jolt one overcast day while I was trudging unhappily from my college dormitory to my first morning class. I crossed paths with a member of the Christian Science organization on campus, whom I had met when I attended an organization meeting with my roommate. Walking briskly and confidently through the drizzle, she greeted me with a cheery "Isn't it a beautiful day!" At first, as I continued walking to class, I thought perhaps she had lost her sanity. But I couldn't stop thinking about her joyful greeting. It woke me up to how much I had been letting the weather control my thinking—and determine my joy or lack of it.

Something else had also been going on in my life at that time. I had started studying the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, a few months earlier, and I had been learning that there is an important connection between thought and experience. I was beginning to see that our lives are improved when we let God govern our thoughts. Now I realized more than ever that I should be turning to God, and not the weather, for my outlook on the day. Ever since then, I have experienced joy and practical results from letting God, divine Love, brighten the atmosphere of my thoughts—first thing in the morning, and all during the day. In fact, I no longer view the weather as a spectator sport; I've come to understand that letting God govern our thoughts can even have a positive effect on the weather.

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