IT WAS TWILIGHT when we left the mountains after a wonderful day of springtime sking. As our family drove onto the freeway, I glanced back and saw what I thought was dark smoke billowing over the rim of the mountain we'd just left. A bright flickering light also lit up the sky. It was a frightening sight to me. Since forest fires were not uncommon in our area, it wasn't unusual for us to wonder if a mountain was burning. We turned on the car radio to find out if there was any report of fire, but were puzzled over how it could have started so fast with so much snow around.

I thought about how we could help the situation. Then our son shouted, "Look!" As I turned quickly in my seat, there was the largest, brightest moon I'd ever seen peeking over the mountain's rim. It was quite a beautiful sight. "Oh, we've been fooled!" I exclaimed. The moonlight reflected on the clouds had made them look like huge billows of smoke. In actuality, we'd been viewing a spectacular natural moonrise. The whole family laughed at how certain we'd been that the mountain was on fire.

From my study of Christian Science, I recalled many times when the convincing appearance of illness or inharmony threatened to shut out my conviction that God was all-powerful, good. But as I prayed to see things with spiritual clarity, my thought shifted, and whatever situation seemed intimidating dissolved, bringing healing.

This concept reminded me of this sentence in Science and Health: "Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees" (p.86). The mountain fire we thought we saw proved to be false, even though our eyes had told us it was a dangerous and potentially tragic occurrence. This scene had been a gentle reminder to me to always look to God to inform my views about His creation, instead of drawing conclusions based on what the senses were telling me.

A few days after our mountain trip, one of our boys felt feverish and wanted to stay home from school. As I prayed to see that my son was loved and cared for as a reflection of God, the picture of the mountain came to my thought. That morning, I talked with my son about how real the fire on the mountain had seemed, and related this to spiritual ideas he'd been learning in Sunday School.

We remembered how, initially, our family had been unhappy with the prospect of the mountain's natural beauty being hurt and how glad we were when we found out that it was safe from harm. Then, we talked about how we can always be happy knowing that God is All-in-all that we are safe in His loving care, just as we feel safe in the arms of our loving parents. God fills all space with goodness, and there is not even a tiny place where evil of any kind can come into our lives. A line from Science and Health supported me in this conversation: "The mirage, which makes trees and cities seem to be where they are not, illustrates the illusion of material man, who cannot be the images of God" (p.300).

It was comforting to know that, just as the image of the mountain ablaze with fire had been a mirage, or lie, about what was really going on, sickness was just as much of a distortion about my son's spiritual identity as a child of God.

Within a few hours of my praying along these lines, the symptoms of illness completely disappeared, and our son felt better. He returned to school happy, well, and ready to share the funny story of the "mountain fire" with his friends.

The human mind often suggests that we're something different from what God created. It would make us believe that our bodies feel sick or that we're bound to experience repeated turmoil in our lives. But the truth is that we've always been perfect, created in God's image and likeness, as the Bible tells in the first chapter of Genesis (see verse 26). From this basis, it's easy to see why "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).

The mental suggestion that we are separated from God, outside of His care, is nothing new or particularly creative. It's been coming to individuals' thoughts in different form throughout all time. But it's heartening to know that we can face and defeat this fundamental lie with the knowledge that God is the only Mind, governing everything in His universe. And each one of us, as God's offspring, is spiritually flawless and free.

As we gain confidence in God' loving intent for us, we're less likely to be fooled by the "mountain fires" of life—and open to seeing the brightness of those moonrises.

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