Comfort From The Psalms October 12, 2015 Issue

Upheld by Spirit

Debra Corry Brandt

One summer when I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go on a three-day biking and camping trip. I did not have a good bike for a trip of this magnitude, so I had to get a new one—a bike that changed gears. By the time our family’s finances and my busy after-school schedule allowed me to get the new bike, it was very close to the time of the trip. I didn’t have much time to get used to riding the bike or changing the gears. But I was very happy about my new bike, and my excitement about the trip almost outweighed any concern or fear over getting used to the bike … almost!

That week, the subject of the Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly was “Spirit.” Not long before I was to leave for the trip, I sat down to pray and read the Bible Lesson, and found this verse from Psalms: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (51:12). The words practically leapt off the page as I read them, because painted on my shiny, new, blue bike was the name of the bike model “Free Spirit.”

The words on the bike faded in importance, though, as the spiritual idea of being freely and wholly upheld by God, Spirit, took over in my thinking. I reasoned that though I’d be very close to my bike over the next few days, God, Spirit, would be even closer. It was God who would keep me upright, not my bike or how much I had practiced. I was God’s idea, or expression; therefore, Spirit maintained my perfection and safety. Any anxiety I had over getting used to the bike or falling vanished. I knew that I would be upheld by God, Spirit, which makes us free of fear or harm.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

A deeper understanding