“I’m going with my Father”
A little boy was leaving his house with his father. As he was walking down the steps, his hand nestled in his father’s, his friend from next door called over the hedge, “Where are you going?”
The little boy answered, “I’m going with my father.”
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This was a story I heard during a Christian Science lecture, and it vividly remained with me. Shortly after hearing that lecture, my father and I embarked on a summer adventure. We took a couple of days to canoe down the Housatonic River in southwestern Connecticut. The spring rains were enough to make it a real adventure.
Divine Love is constantly leading the way in every circumstance.
We were both new students of Christian Science, and we decided to take the approach of the little boy: We were going with our Father—our spiritual Father, God. We had taken many trips together, but this new approach made this trip feel very special.
My dad suggested that we should consider ourselves as citizens of God’s kingdom, and that we were exploring a particular part of that kingdom, guided by our spiritual Father. This isn’t a kingdom located in some geographical place—like a space on a map. It is a kind of mental space where we can go in prayer; a space where we can go in our thinking and feel inspired by God’s love for us.
Finding the right access point for our trip presented us with the first challenge. After driving around for quite a while, and finding no easy route to the river, we prayed for an answer.
We felt that this trip was a God-inspired activity and leaned on Mary Baker Eddy’s description of Love—a name the Bible uses for God—as inspiring us, illuming, designating, and leading the way (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 454). According to Eddy, the Discoverer of this spiritual Science, divine Love is constantly leading the way in every circumstance.
As we prayed, a man came by who, having seen the canoe on the roof of our car, assumed we were looking for an access point. He described exactly how we could find one.
On this trip, I was to be the bow paddler. Anyone who has been a bow paddler, especially in class three rapids (moderate, irregular waves, fast currents, and obstacles), can appreciate how helpful it is to know that there is one constant and powerful guide—God.
The following day we started early, grateful to find that we had a calm lake to cross as part of the voyage. Then, as part of an awkward movement on my part, my sandal slipped off my foot and into the lake, sinking fast. We had one last portage to make. How could I be so stupid? I didn’t think I could make it barefoot.
God’s guidance and protection could never be less than full and constant.
We prayed again. God’s guidance and protection could never be less than full and constant. That hand of the Father, that was symbolically holding our hands, was guiding, and would never let go. God, divine Love, would inspire and lead our thoughts to the perfect answer.
My dad, inspired by our prayers and knowing that I enjoyed swimming underwater, suggested that I dive. It’s true; the water was clear. But it was also deep. It took six or seven surface dives. But it worked. I successfully retrieved the sandal.
Though these might seem like small examples, each proved to us, especially as new travelers on this spiritual path, that we could never be outside of God’s presence, protection, and guidance.
There have been many other excursions over the years, and I have tried to remind myself consistently of that simplest of all facts: I’m always going with my spiritual Father.