What does God have to do with putting up preserves? By explaining how fruits and vegetables can be saved for the long winter, I was trying to draw, for my Sunday School class, a correlation to God's care for us.

When I asked, "What are preserves put up for?" one of the students said, "So they won't spoil." It was such an obvious answer, yet I hadn't even considered that line of reasoning. I had been thinking only about future provision to meet an unforeseen need.

That afternoon I reread a passage from Psalms: "The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul" (121:7). This seemed to support my student's insight—that God preserves His children from evil, or in other words, from decaying or spoiling.

God's creation is wholly spiritual, because God is Spirit. This creation is always intact, for nothing exists outside of God's allness to undo what He has done.

We are protected and preserved by learning more about the nature and power of God, by understanding how God's law and love are powerful and available for any need. Sin and sickness are not the creations of an all-good God. They aren't inherent in God's children, either. Belief in, or fear of, something apart from God is what we need to protect ourselves from, and we do this by understanding and trusting God's allness and goodness. That's not to say we aren't tempted at times to believe that evil in some form is just as real and powerful as God. But when we see such temptations as a kind of misinformation coming from the physical senses, rather than the truth about us that comes from God, we have the upper hand.

Once, a friend of mine listened politely while a co-worker shared a detailed description of a knee operation. The following morning when my friend got out of bed, he felt pain in one of his knees. Recalling the conversation from the previous day, he recognized the pain as a temptation to believe that God could not maintain the harmony of His creation and that, therefore, he and his co-worker could suffer. He immediately rejected this notion, which he knew had no basis in God. With that, his knee was fine, and the pain disappeared.

To be watchful of the thoughts we agree with is so important. Are they good, and thus from God? If so, welcome them! But whatever is not good can and should be rejected as misinformation, on the basis of its being ungodlike.

Is keeping watch over one's thought a laborious task? Not really. In fact, it's quite natural when your thoughts embrace the allness of God. And isn't that what it means to "have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16)? Think of Jesus' example of keeping watch over his own thought. He faced evil and disease, but they didn't overwhelm him. In fact, he healed multitudes of their troubles. The reason he gave for his success was simple: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19).

As a result, perhaps, of his recognition that God was the source of his healing power, Jesus spent time, sometimes all night, in communion with his Father. We, too, would benefit from spending time each day in prayer to God. Listening to God's messages to us and affirming that we are God's loved child prepares us for whatever challenges we may face. Such prayer keeps thought focused on God and acknowledges the power of His healing presence in our lives. Mary Baker Eddy, a nineteenth-century disciple of Christ Jesus, writes, "The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering" (Science and Health, p. 387).

While pruning some shrubs recently, I had an experience that illustrates the value of keeping one's thought centered on God. I was working without garden gloves, grabbing with one hand long shoots of a bush and clipping them with the other hand. The clippers were new and sharp, and I was working quickly. Suddenly, I clipped a finger, and it started to bleed. I had been doing a lot of spiritual study in the days prior to the incident, and felt close to God. I declared that I couldn't really be hurt because I am God's child, loved and cared for every minute, and that God preserves me from evil. I acknowledged that I was not a vulnerable mortal, but God's spiritual, immutable idea. The bleeding stopped immediately. I put on my gardening gloves and continued to work. The evidence of the cut totally disappeared in a couple of days, and there was no soreness or tenderness. I was so grateful for this quick healing, a proof of God's preserving power.