At around the age of twenty, I traveled to a far-off country with a warm climate, believing it would be a one-way trip. I could not have foreseen the difficulty I would soon face. 

The first night of the second leg of my travels, while I was in a pretty room in the home of my host family, a big, black, hairy spider crossed the floor. I was struck with terror and revulsion at the sight and could think only of picking up my suitcase and leaving the house immediately! But I did not have the means to live on my own, so leaving was out of the question.

Suddenly I hated that place, although I had arrived full of hope. I was well aware of the irrationality of the fear that paralyzed me, but I had always been afraid of spiders, and the mere sight of a spider web repelled me. 

When I was a child, my grandmother would gently tease me with the popular French expression, La petite bête ne va pas manger la grosse!—“The little beast is not going to eat the big one!”—thinking that such reasoning would lessen my fear. But it didn’t do any good, and I would scream until someone came to take away the horrible creature.

Now, alone in my room with this spider, I felt I was at an impasse. Curled up against the wall, I remembered that “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” I turned to God with all my heart, looking for help beyond myself­—for an angel message from God that would give me the courage to take a step forward.

Immediately, a passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy came to thought: “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible.” The full paragraph has the marginal heading “Creatures of God useful” and explains, “Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions’ den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless. All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies. It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor to emulate the example of Jesus. ‘And God saw that it was good’ ” (pp. 514–515). 

I let myself be guided by this spiritual reasoning emphasizing the legitimate place and usefulness of every one of God’s ideas. Spiders, for instance, fill an important role in maintaining a balance in our ecosystem, and demonstrate agility and productivity. These and other wonderful qualities found in nature hint at the infinitude and harmony of God’s spiritual creation. Whatever is harmful or useless cannot, and in reality does not, belong to this creation, or to any of God’s creatures. 

I realized that every creature, even this “little beast,” was governed by divine Love, and therefore had only a useful purpose and could not be harmful to anyone. With the purity of a child, I could approach the spider and observe it—not only without fear, but with the expectation of good. As a result, I was able to crawl along the floor to look at the spider and marvel at its agility. The terror was defeated. 

I continued my stay in my host’s home and was never again troubled by fear of or revulsion toward spiders or other small creatures. Recently, in a Parisian public garden, a little mouse, and then a big rat, appeared and began to eat the crumbs on the ground near me, and I was fine. 

How wonderful it is to have been freed from this trouble. Thanks to Christian Science!

Myriam Betouche 
Paris, France