The answers I needed
When I was a college freshman, I took a course in English literature about the comic novel. I wasn’t there very long before I realized I didn’t like the professor. He didn’t talk about the reading material like my other professors did—he spent most of the time making rough remarks about certain aspects of the material or his outlook on life. I didn’t leave the course before the permitted time to drop it, so I was stuck on the class roll.
When I turned in a mid-term exam paper and was given an F, I went to talk to the professor. He told me my paper was unacceptable because it had typos and was messy. I recognized it wasn’t my best effort and asked him if I could do the paper again, but he said no—my only recourse was making a good grade on the final exam. He also suggested he didn’t want to be bothered with what students thought or had to say and, furthermore, using colorful language, told me to get out of his office.
I felt hate for this man. I thought he was cold and heartless, and I decided I just wouldn’t attend any more classes, and that suited me just fine until one day the moment of truth came. It was almost time for the final examination. I realized I hadn’t read any of the required books, and to make it worse, one of the women in my dorm who was in my class came to my room in a panic. She had attended all the classes and read all the material but told me that no one ever passed this professor’s final exam, even the most gifted of students.
I thought about how I had just a few days to read six or seven books. How could I ever pass the course? I felt very frightened. So I decided to go somewhere quiet and turn my thought to God, divine Mind, and asked God to show me what to do, because I didn’t have a clue. As I was praying, an angel thought came to read from Mary Baker Eddy’s Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, and I found the entire article “Love Your Enemies” really helpful. Here’s a relevant passage: “We must love our enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby we love our friends; must even try not to expose their faults, but to do them good whenever opportunity occurs” (p. 11 ). I also recalled John the Baptist’s remark about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36 ). Although Jesus alone is titled “Lamb of God,” I realized that a “lamblike” gentleness, Christlike meekness, and receptivity to Truth was a natural part of the professor’s God-given nature. And I realized I needed to feel Christian love for him.
I’m not sure how long I read or prayed with spiritual truths, but I felt great love for the professor and saw him as a loving child of God, loved by God. Then the thought came to me to read the prefaces and forewords of the required books for the professor’s class. I also humbly realized I had been at fault for turning in a poorly written mid-term paper and the professor had the right to give me a bad grade. I needed that lesson in humility.
I decided to go somewhere quiet and ask divine Mind to show me what to do because I didn’t have a clue.
When the day of the final exam came, I felt calm. The other students around me were in a state of panic and nervousness, all talking about how hard this test was going to be, their comments swirling around me, but I felt the peacefulness and presence of divine Love. When the professor entered the room, I saw the child of God, kind, meek, and loving. He smugly remarked to the class, “Good luck, because no one has ever made a good grade on my final exam!” The papers were handed out, and when I looked at them, all the questions pertained exactly to what I had read the night before in the forewords of the novels. I opened my exam book and with a sense of love and peace, wrote the answers. I finished early and turned in my book knowing all was well.
A few days later, a friend of mine and I went to see the grade postings. I’d received a C in the course. My friend remarked: “You passed! That means you made an A on the exam!” (The A had balanced out my F grade on the mid-term.)
A few days later I was walking on the campus, when the professor and another associate were approaching me on the walk. He saw me and said to the other man: “You see that girl? She passed my final exam. Nobody has ever done that!”
From this healing experience, my attitude toward academics changed. I became a better student and realized it was right to do a proper and thorough job in my studies, and that God is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1 ). When we go to God, divine Mind, in prayer, we grow spiritually and He always has answers for us.
