Article April 20, 2009 ISSUE

FOR TEENS

HIKING WITH LOVE

BY DIANNA KONETCHY

Last summer I went to a Christian Science camp in Colorado. At the time, I felt like I wasn't into it, even though I'd been going to the Christian Science Sunday School since I was little, and everybody in my family went to church. But I thought of Christian Science as a waste of time.

When I first got to camp, I was told that the group events and reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson each day alone with exploring my books, the Bible and Science and Health, would help me grow spiritually. I did the typical eye roll and sigh. Little did I know it was true.

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The counselor said that God's love was solid and unbreakable.

Later that week I went on a rocky hike up a steep mountain with my photography group. As we were walking, I started to get blisters. I hadn't brought hiking shoes. Instead, I'd decided to wear Converse sneakers to walk in. It was too late to turn back. I started crying, and the three counselors on the hike stopped and comforted me.

One of them asked me what were some of the qualities that rocks represented. I said, "They're solid and unbreakable." He said to imagine that I was walking on God's love, because God's love was solid and unbreakable, just as the rocks were. We started hiking again, and when I thought about the counselor's idea, I immediately felt better.

But as the walk proceeded, my feet started to hurt again. So I started singing the first verse of Hymn 139 from the Christian Science Hymnal in my head:

I walk with Love along the way,
And O, it is a holy day;
No more I suffer cruel fear,
I feel God's presence with me here;
The joy that none can take away
Is mine; I walk with Love today.

Then I started to sing it out loud, and everybody in the group started singing it at the exact same time!

I remember that my feet stopped hurting, and all I could feel was happy to be on that walk admiring the trees, waterfalls, and animals that God had made for us to admire.

I believe that God had sent us all the same message to pray with, in the form of a song.

I now use Christian Science a lot when I have problems, and though I admit that I don't always think of turning to God immediately, I now believe that it's the most effective way to turn any situation around. css

About the author

Dianna lives in California and likes to play Softball.

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CADDYING WITH LOVE
April 20, 2009
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