Article January 12, 2009 Issue

DON'T GET HOOKED

BY KATHERINE HOSMER THOMPSON

When our family lived in Spain in the '80s, drugs had become an issue of public concern. I remember an anti-drug campaign that included poster-sized photos of a sharp, well-used fishing hook, plastered around Madrid. Underneath the picture of the hook, the poster read (in Spanish): "Don't get hooked."

That image of the fishhook has never left me. In my study of Christian Science, it's reminded me of the need to resist hooks of all kinds—the pointed attacks and allure of what Mary Baker Eddy described as "aggressive mental suggestion" (see Manual of The Mother Church, p. 42). I've found these suggestions, which claim that there is a very real and present power opposed to an all-powerful God, sometimes start from the moment I wake up. They may come in the form of reticence about what the day has in store, or lingering concerns about the past.

Whether I have a tight morning schedule or my kids come running in before the alarm even goes off, I've found it's crucial to be watchful about waking thoughts. Are they God-focused or stuck in an anxious loop? The immediate declaration of God's promise that all is well and that I do have God-given dominion over my thinking has proved to be the best preparation imaginable for the hours ahead.

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