Once when I was standing on a ladder about to fix my sailboat, the ladder slipped from under me, and I fell backward to the ground, landing with my shoulder on a wooden block. As I lay on my side, words from the “Daily Prayer” in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy came to me: “. . . let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me . . .” (p. 41). Also, these words from the Christian Science textbook: “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). These synonyms for God—Truth, Life, Love, and Mind—oriented my thought toward God and away from the situation.

My sporting friends came over to check on me and helped make me comfortable. An ambulance had been sent for. When it arrived, the paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital, which I declined with thanks. My daughter also arrived. When she couldn’t reach a Christian Science practitioner, she called a church member, who readily began praying. When my daughter and I reached the car to go home, this church member called back and read aloud the answer to the question “What is man?” starting on page 475 of Science and Health, replacing the word “man” with my name. It begins, “Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements.”

A little while later I received an email from this same friend with some thoughts on sitting and walking, reminding me that in reality I lived, moved, and had my being in divine Love, and nothing had changed that fact. In Science and Health we read, “Step by step will those who trust Him find that ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ ” (p. 444), which speaks to me of walking without pain.