An adventure in prayer

Bobby Witney

In England we have a series on TV called Doctor Who. He is an alien who travels in a Tardis—a time machine that's disguised as a police telephone box, or booth. A Tardis looks small on the outside, but is big on the inside. I like to think of it, not as a police box, but as a prayer box.

When I recently had an annoying cough, my mum told me about how Jesus said to go into a closet, shut the door, and pray in your own sanctuary of Spirit (see Matt. 6:6). This doesn't mean to actually go into a cupboard, but to find a quiet space in your mind and let only spiritual thoughts come in. In this, sanctuary of Spirit, you are safe with God.

Next, Jesus taught us the Lord's Prayer. You may notice that the first lines of the prayer are about how God is everyone's Father, and He's All, and His will governs all. In the next lines, we're asking God for help. And then we finish the prayer with God's allness again.

My mum said this is what we do in prayer. We start and end with God's all-power and all-presence. So that's what I did. I lay on my bed, shut my eyes, and stepped inside my prayer box. Line by line, I prayed the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy (see Science and Health, pp. 16–17). And I thought about how each line related to me.

I felt a sudden rush of spiritual thoughts. I found this very exciting. It felt as if I had discovered a new power. A Tardis in my own mind that was bursting with spiritual enlightenment. A quiet space filled with love, to rest in all the time.

It seemed so cool to know that God's love was with me everywhere. I will never forget that moment. My coughing attacks stopped. And I was soon completely healed.

I want to say that in times of any sort of trouble, you, too, can go inside your own Tardis and experience the love of God.

Bobby Witney, 12
Fleet, England

Here's how Bobby prayed!

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father which art in heaven,

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Adorable One.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent. supreme.

Gives us this day our daily bread;

Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;

And forgiven us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And Love is reflected in love;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.

Science and Health, pp. 16–17

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