Relate to teens: share a healing!
I have two daughters, both living away from home—one in college and one in boarding school. Every day I provide them with a spiritual thought to start their day: an idea from the Bible, the Christian Science Hymnal, or Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Although they are very independent teenagers, my daughters love these gentle reminders of the special, powerful tool they have from God to help themselves: prayer.
I stress the importance of turning their thought to God, acknowledging His presence, thanking God for His care and protection, remembering who they are in prayer when they start each day, when they close each day, before their homework, before a test, when they are exercising or walking somewhere. Jesus had very busy days, and yet we are told that he found time to go to his Father in prayer. The Bible tells us how after a particularly busy day of healing multitudes, Jesus rose up the following morning well before daybreak to seek quiet and solitude and to pray to his Father (see Mark 1:35 ).
What I have found that truly reinforces my efforts with my daughters is an example from my own life. They listen more carefully and often with keen interest because it is a story about their mom.
Once upon a time, I told them, before you were born, I was a runner. I loved to run through woods, up hills, around lakes—wherever my feet would carry me—and then run home to shower and jet off to work. One day while running the final distance back to my home, I needed to cross a small intersection during the early rush hour. I saw several cars coming up the small hill and anticipated that I had plenty of time to make it across. The car in the lead came up to the stop sign more suddenly than I’d anticipated; just as I was about to cross, it made a right turn without stopping, hitting me and pushing me to the ground while driving over my foot and ankle.
I had been praying that day with the seven synonyms for God that are provided in the Glossary and elsewhere in Science and Health. I had just reached “Principle” and was claiming the protection that is ours as reflections of Principle. I had memorized something Mrs. Eddy wrote about accidents: “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.
“Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection” (Science and Health, p. 424 ).
Several verses from Psalm 91, which I associate with Principle, comforted me as I found myself suddenly lying on the cold ground: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (verses 11, 12 ).
The car’s driver, who had jumped out of his car after hitting me, was distraught and begged to take me to the hospital. A young woman in the car behind him also ran to my aid, covering me with a blanket, saying she was an emergency medical technician and could help me. She counseled that I should get to a hospital for an X-ray and medical attention. As I looked away from the material picture to what I had been listening to in prayer a moment before, I assured them that I was fine. In spite of what had happened, I don’t recall any sense of alarming pain. The drivers finally agreed that if I didn’t go to the hospital, one of them should drive me home. I felt their loving concern and agreed that this would be appreciated.
My daughters loved the story, but more important, it let me illustrate how prayer was a huge help to me.
When I arrived home, I was able to walk and move around with relative comfort. I showered and dressed for work, then called a Christian Science practitioner to assist me in my prayers. I told her of my run, my prayers during my run, my encounter with the car, and that I was questioning what shoes I should wear to work. She laughed about the shoes and reminded me that my prayer was powerful, that I most certainly am protected by God, and that I could claim my freedom of choice about my shoes as well as about any aftereffects.
I called the practitioner during the day saying that I felt entirely free of any injuries but noticed a growing discoloration around my foot and ankle. She reminded me that my spiritual identity could never be discolored by anything, including an accident or severe blow. The only “color” I could reflect was “Christly bands of Love” (James J. Rome, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 423 ). Holding to this thought, I was able to work all day in heels, and then after work, pitch in a softball game in cleats. That evening, I stood up in our church’s testimony meeting to share that I was totally unharmed from my morning’s experience. There was not even a hint of a bruise.
My daughters loved the story, but more important, it let me illustrate how prayer was a huge help to me. I used the opportunity to delve into another aspect of prayer with them, too.
In the first chapter of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy explains: “Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds” (p. 1 ). I explained that right desires are prayer, and that selfish wishing is not spiritual prayer. Sometimes it may be confusing as to what we want and what God wants for us, but this rule has helped me: selfishness pushes and prods, while God gently leads and guards. Feeling pushed or pushing at something to make it happen may be an immediate signal that someone is being willful, whereas feeling led might feel very peaceful, like a flower unfolding, gently blossoming without stressful effort. My daughters agreed that spiritual prayer should not be stressful or willful, but natural and effortless—guarding right desires and leading them to “bud and blossom” in our lives.
I continue to pray about teaching my daughters how to care for themselves spiritually. I’m glad to be able to text them spiritual nuggets each day. And teaching my children about prayer gives me great confidence that I am equipping them well for their lives. All who seek God in prayer can be assured of the promise that the Psalmist sings: “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalms 55:17 ).
