Article August 14, 2000 Issue

Your real life story

God is the author; perfection, the plot.

By Helen Burnett Lapp

I sat at the kitchen table, a twelve-year-old, writing a story. The plot progressed from exciting to frightening. Suddenly, the threat of evil that I was inventing became so real to me that I hastily abandoned the characters to their almost certain peril and ran to my parents in the living room for safety and reassurance.

Over the many years since, I have often remembered this episode with amusement. Recently, however, I realized how often I have in effect relived that scenario, turning away from a frightening but untrue story of my life to the comforting arms of my Father-Mother, God.

Mary Baker Eddy talks about who really writes one's life story. She says in her book Science and Health, "Those instructed in Christian Science have reached the glorious perception that God is the only author of man" (p. 29). She also explains, "Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be independent workers, personal authors, and even privileged originators of something which Deity would not or could not create. The creations of mortal mind are material." She goes on to say, "Immortal spiritual man alone represents the truth of creation" (p. 263).

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