Mental Lifeguards

[Written Especially for Young People]

LILLIAN CURRY RIGG

A group of middle-western tourists was visiting a Pacific Ocean beach for the first time. The younger members of the party eagerly sought advice from one of the lifeguards on the beach as to the best mode of swimming in the ocean.

He said: "Don't be afraid of the tossing waves; relax and know that each one will disappear, but be careful that they don't pull you under. Some that look small have an undertow. It would be best for you to stay within sight of me; I'm always here to help you!"

A thoughtful member of the group sat down on the sand for a few minutes to marvel at the great expanse of motion. Spontaneous gratitude filled her thought that in Christian Science we have our mental lifeguards always at hand. How like the sea of error, or evil, was this sea of foaming waves! And then she thought: In Christian Science we reason in much the same way as the lifeguard advised. We should be unafraid, but at the same time watchful of innocent-looking little waves of error that might pull us away from Truth without our knowing it. Keep in sight of God, our ever-present help.

Then this young but thoughtful student recalled what Mrs. Eddy teaches in her wonderful book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." On page 174 she explains that "the angels of His presence—the spiritual intuitions that tell us when 'the night is far spent, the day is at hand'—are our guardians in the gloom;" and in the chapter called the Glossary in the same book she defines "angels" as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect."

Spiritual thoughts, then, are our guardian angels or mental lifeguards, protecting us every moment. Again, on page 537 of the textbook, Mrs. Eddy says, "Truth guards the gateway to harmony." Truth realized on any occasion is a lifeguard. Other synonyms and attributes of God can come to our consciousness to help us just at the moment we need them. Often, like the unpretentious-looking waves, error comes in some subtle form to draw us under the waters of material popularity, but always we can lay claim to a higher spiritual sense of dominion.

Gratefully the student remembered some experiences in which she had realized how these ever-ready spiritual lifeguards had protected her. For instance, her understanding of Principle had made it easy for her to refuse a social drink just the evening before. She knew, too, that her obedience in reading daily the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly had protected her from forming habits that might become false gods. Twice she had appeared to be near death, but the realization of Love's divine protection and the eternality of Life had saved her. No wonder she fearlessly and joyously prepared for her swim, grateful that a power higher than the human was there to protect her. All she needed to do, and all any one as a child of God needs to do, was to realize silently this protection and gratefully accept it. Then one is not caught in the undertow of materiality.

Everyone had a joyous experience in the sea that day. The student only wished, as she dashed toward the waves, that her friends knew, as she did, how to realize the power of their real lifeguards to increase happiness and ensure protection. "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

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