Article September 14, 1998 Issue

Fractured arm healed

By Pauline D. Jenner

"By looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. ... A man's gaze, fastened fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to retreat in terror" (Science and Health, p.378). The author of this statement, Mary Baker Eddy, taught that fearlessness in treating disease is just as important as it was for Sir Charles when he faced down the tiger.

How can we be fearless in the midst of pain or disease? Through faithful reliance on God, who is all-powerful and ever present, and through acknowledgment of our God-given identity as His child— perfect, whole, and complete. This spiritual connection to God, or oneness with Him, can never be severed and remains untouched by disease, pain, or injury.

I saw the truth of this after my young daughter fell while at the school playground. An older girl had been swinging her around and dropped her. The school nurse suspected that she had broken her arm and should go to the hospital. The doctor took an X-ray, which he showed to me, indicating a hairline crack in her forearm, and her arm was put in a plaster cast for an estimated four to six weeks. No medication was given, and she was not in pain, but she was asked to return in three days to have the cast checked.

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