Healing and the family pet
Our household has always considered pets loved members of the family, and we regularly pray for them. My kids learned at an early age to apply what they were learning at the Christian Science Sunday School in their prayers for the pets. As the children grew up and faced challenges of their own, they could recall these early metaphysical experiences and remember the effectiveness of prayer.
My daughters were especially fond of our pet rats. Even though rats are often looked on as a nuisance and less than lovable, we learned they can also be sweet, tidy, tame, and intelligent. We found this to be true of our first pet rat, Tidbits. My daughters loved taking her for walks on a leash and for bike rides. Tidbits would often perch on one of my daughter’s shoulders.
One day I noticed that Tidbits had a lump on her neck; it increased in size and became quite large. My daughters and I decided to rely on prayer for her care. We focused on all the Godlike qualities that Tidbits exhibited such as love, gentleness, and health. I also refuted as “mental malpractice”—the misdirected, sometimes ignorant, effort to harm or influence (see Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 451 )—the belief that rats are inclined to certain health problems. Plus, I reasoned, if we accepted this illness as being real for an animal, we were opening the door to accepting that a person could suffer from this false belief, too.
Mary Baker Eddy refutes the idea that illness and discord are part of God’s creation when she says: “Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality—infinite Life, Truth, and Love” (Science and Health, p. 518 ). Our family applied this passage to our prayerful treatment of Tidbits.
It wasn’t long, less than a week, until the only evidence of the lump was a small scab, and that, too, was gone shortly after with no reappearance of the condition. We rejoiced in this proof of God’s love for all His creation, including Tidbits.
Sometime later, when every family member had spent the night away from home, I was the first to return in the morning. I was greeted by our dog, who appeared distressed and indicated she wanted me to follow her into the bathroom. I did so, and she sat right next to the toilet and stared intently at it.
This concerned me because Tidbits would occasionally escape from her cage at night and run around the house playing “tag” with our pups, and I was afraid she had fallen in the toilet. This was the case. I saw that her head was submerged, and she was not moving. But after she was lifted up and given a gentle squeeze, she moved ever so slightly so I knew she was alive. I wrapped her in a blanket, all the while praying and declaring that Life is eternal. Despite the fact that I did not initially have hope for her recovery, I found reassurance in this statement from the Bible: “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27 ). By the time my daughters returned that morning, Tidbits was as alert and active as usual and continued to thrive.
Our family is deeply grateful to God for these proofs of His loving care. As a parent I am especially grateful that my daughters learned that the spiritual truths we apply to our pets can be effectively applied to ourselves and others, as well.
Kaye Cover
Placerville, California, US
