Adding Zero

[Written Especially for Children]

RUTH T. STAHL

JOAN is a dear little girl in the second grade in school. One day she saw among her problems on her arithmetic paper 8 + 0 = ? She puzzled over this for a while, for it seemed foolish to her, and she thought the teacher had made a mistake. But no—the teacher assured her that the problem was quite all right, and that she would have to think it out.

Joan tried everything she could think of. She knew 8 + 1 = 9, and she thought that adding zero should make some difference, so she tried 7, and even 80, but they were not right. Then the time for arithmetic was over, and Joan had not solved her problem.

But that evening her mother made it all plain. Joan saw that if she had eight pennies in one hand and none in the other, and put both together, she would still have eight pennies, no more and no less. She saw that adding zero to something could not change that something the least little bit.

Several days later error came to Joan in the form of a cold and tried to add itself to her. But Joan knew, through her study of Christian Science, that God had made everything that was real, and had made it good. Now, as this cold was not good, it could not be something real. It was just zero—nothing.

Joan herself was in reality Love's reflection, and Love's reflection was something very good and very real. So if zero—cold—tried to add itself to Love's reflection, the result could not be pain or discomfort or annoyance, or loss of health and happiness and joy. It must leave her as it found her, perfect and happy and well, reflecting Love itself.

Knowing this, Joan was entirely freed from the error. How happy she was to know that through her own thinking she could thus free herself from error, as Jesus had done! And with what joy and gratitude did her mother lift her heart to God, realizing that even a small child can understand and demonstrate Christian Science.

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Adding Zero

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