A missing purse predicament – and a helpful healing

Have you ever lost something while flying on an airplane? When that happened to me recently, I discovered that with a spiritual focus, solutions to a seemingly unsolvable situation become not only possible, but inevitable.

While preparing for a trip to see my family a few months ago, I decided to pack my purse inside my checked suitcase to reduce the number of carry-on items I would have. I took out only my driver’s license and bank card.

But upon arriving at my hotel after flying all day, I discovered that the purse was missing from inside my suitcase! I found myself anxiously taking a mental inventory of everything that was in the purse, including my wallet with various ID cards and credit cards, my check book, and a satchel of jewelry. As I thought of each item, there was an accompanying sense of loss and an analysis of its value, plus all the concerns about canceling credit cards and bank accounts. I felt helpless as I wondered what might have happened: Maybe the purse had been taken by an airline employee or another passenger. Or perhaps my bag had come open, and the purse had fallen out at some point. I had changed flights, so the possibilities were endless.

In the midst of this mental chatter, a very simple thought came through loud and clear: “Alison, you cannot lose anything that really belongs to you.” This was a familiar voice I had learned to recognize--what the Bible refers to as “the still small voice” (I Kings 19:12 ). I think of these jolts of insight as divine news flashes, encouraging me to look beyond the material view of any predicament.

In that moment, I began to realize that instead of panic over my missing purse, there was a different mental channel readily available to me, should I choose to tune in to it. And I did! In this calmer mental space, I reached for my copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, a book that has offered me guidance through many challenges. I opened it and my eyes landed on these words: “The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine.” And a little further up the page, I read: “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.”

These two passages seemed to almost literally apply to my situation. Here was a practical opportunity to exchange the “objects of sense” – valuable material things that I seemed to have lost – for the “ideas of Soul,” which are not dependent on a material form or manifestation, and which can never be lost. I felt at peace knowing that the material assessment of my circumstances was not “absolute.” I was exhilarated with a sense of substance beyond matter.

I did take some practical steps such as calling the airport to report the incident, and calling my bank. However, during all of these conversations as I recounted the material events, I held firm to the spiritual inspiration I had gained. Knowing, as I had read, that the testimony of the material senses is not absolute, gave me the courage to release a sense of personal attachment to the situation, and it felt more like relating a fictional story than something that had really happened to me. Whenever a thought of loss would come up, I would hold to the fact that my substance was spiritual and that I could lose nothing.

The following morning, I was sitting at a café studying the Christian Science Bible Lesson for that week. I don’t remember the exact ideas I was reading, but I remember that an incredible peace came over me. I felt tangibly moved by a sense of the goodness of God and so sure that this goodness was real, present, and powerful. I wasn’t thinking of my lost purse at all anymore.

About 30 minutes later, my phone rang. It was the airport calling to say that another passenger from one of my flights had discovered my purse in their suitcase and had just returned it to the airport. I asked about the contents, and they verified that everything that had been inside when I packed it was still there!

And it gets even better. I immediately wanted to share the news with my sister, but I remembered that she had recently lost a suitcase on a flight which still hadn’t been recovered, and I didn’t want to discourage her or make her feel like my prayers were effective while hers were not. But then the idea came that my experience would inspire rather than discourage her, so I called right away.

When I finished relating the story, she was very happy for me. When she mentioned her suitcase and said she didn’t understand why she hadn’t recovered it, it felt very natural to share the metaphysical ideas I had been working with. As we ended our conversation, I reiterated that God’s law of good was always operating and that she couldn’t be deprived of anything that was rightfully hers. She gratefully accepted these ideas, and we hung up the phone.

About an hour later, she called me back to say that she had just received a call from the airline – they had found her suitcase and were sending it for delivery the next day! We both were in awe at the immediacy of this outcome. It was so clear that what had happened went beyond anything either of us had personally done or thought. We both knew this was not just a coincidence.

Witnessing the power of God, good, operating in such a tangible way far surpassed the recovery of any material object. This experience showed me firsthand the practicality of “exchanging the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.”

Still small voice:

Science and Health
269:9