"A little child"

ELIZABETH H. MURDOCK

When our consciousness has once been awakened to the spiritual facts of being, we find that many a little incident along the way becomes symbolic of an idea of Truth and teaches us valuable lessons. Not yet have we outgrown the need of just such teaching as Jesus gave to his disciples in his wayside parables, and also his object-lessons. One of the most important of these was given the disciples when the Master "called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them." An enlightened and uplifted thought follows now, as it did then, when the inner voice bids us pause to meditate upon some apparently trivial thing.

We have especial cause for rejoicing when the effect of such an experience tends toward the recognition of the simplicity of the teachings of Christian Science, for this is a much needed lesson. We often seem to feel that work in Christian Science is a very complicated matter, requiring an exhaustive knowledge of disease, its laws and manifestations, before we can even diagnose the trouble, and great skill in the application of the truth before we can meet it. This sense of things leaves us very much afraid that there may be some phase of error which we have omitted to consider in our work, or some aspect of truth, necessary to the healing, that we do not realize, with the result that we unconsciously arrive at a much greater reliance upon our own intellectual comprehension of both evil and good, and of the right methods of applying truth, than upon the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.

Nothing has ever spoken to me more clearly of the simplicity of truth and its application to human needs than a little incident that I witnessed while travelling last summer. Near us in the sleeping-car there sat a mother with her ten months' old baby, and I noticed that occasionally, as a little rest for them both, she would place the baby in the corner of the seat opposite her. Once she had just settled her there when I heard the roar of an approaching train which would pass close to the window where the child was sitting. The baby heard it too, drew back into the corner with a little shudder, and stared out of the window with wide, frightened eyes to see what the dreadful thing might be. It was only for a moment, however, that she did this, and then, just as one might have expected her to scream out in terror, with a visible effort she turned away from the window and looked up into her mother's face. While the train was passing, and it must have seemed a long time to her, for it did even to me, she never once wavered, but kept her eyes fixed steadily upon her mother's face. She not only did not allow herself to look for an instant at the thing that frightened her, but she was evidently filling her consciousness with the beloved mother-presence, and all the love and protection and good that it meant to her; and one could see from her face that she had found peace.

Idly looking on at this little scene, I did not realize for a few minutes what a beautiful illustration it was of trustful faith. Then as I pondered it the spiritual lesson appeared, and I saw that it symbolized in all its simplicity the complete teaching of Christian Science as to the application of the truth to every form of error. The baby did not investigate, and she did not need to know all about the frightful, monstrous thing that seemed to be rushing down upon her; neither did she have any theories as to the methods by which she could receive help. She merely refused to look, refused to listen, refused to receive any of the apparent evidences of danger, and steadfastly, unwaveringly, to the exclusion of all else, dwelt in the enfolding mother-love that had never failed her. She was perfectly safe all the time, but if she had reversed her thinking and listened to the suggestions of error, even if she had wavered a little, heeding first one and then the other, she would not have been conscious of her safety. And it is not merely the fact of protection and safety, but the consciousness of the fact, that makes for peace in the midst of seeming evil; and consciousness, we must remember, is determined by what we think.

It is indeed wholly a question of consciousness, and how to gain and preserve the right consciousness is what Christian Science teaches and requires us to do. With its beautiful teaching of a God who is Love, and whose tender relation to us is more perfect than even the word "mother" can express, in proportion as we do our thought-work as this little one did hers, we shall find how simple is the application of the truth, and how wonderful its results in securing this right consciousness.

Let us read again and ponder well those loved passages found on pages 495 and 261 of our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy: "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."

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