Fatigue overcome on multi-peak hike

Last summer my son and I went on a three-peak day hike on some of New Hampshire’s most rugged mountains. On our way up the third peak, I realized that my movement was becoming more labored with every step. Progress was slow, and as my son kept checking on me, I found myself looking to the body for answers. But the reports from my legs, lungs, etc., were not cheerful or optimistic. Then these words from the Christian Science Hymnal came to me:

I started humming the tune and reflected carefully on the words. I also thought about “the scientific statement of being” from the Christian Science textbook, which begins, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). I reasoned that the body is unintelligent and cannot give reports of fatigue or of limbs not working well. 

Finally, these further words from Science and Health came to me: “If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter” (pp. 260–261). I knew I needed to look elsewhere than the body for help. I started applying the spiritual truth in this quote to my situation. I thought, If we look to the body for strength, we find weakness; for endurance, we find fatigue; for energy, we find exhaustion. (The latter also applies to looking to certain foods to provide energy.)

I realized I needed to look away from the body to Spirit, God, which I did. I turned my entire focus to God, praying to see the real man, God’s perfect creation, right then and there and declaring that I was spiritual, not material. This was a very helpful line of thought. As I held to these truths, I felt revived, energetic, and physically unaffected by the miles we had traveled and the elevation we had gained. I was now finding an active restfulness as the day went on. We reached the summit of the third peak and hiked out another five miles to our exit point. 

It was truly humbling to experience God’s care—turning to prayer and the truths I am learning in Christian Science to meet the physical challenges and thereby successfully hiking the three major peaks. I am very grateful for this healing.

John Sheasley
Meredith, New Hampshire, US