"WHEN THE WINDS OF GOD BLOW"

WILLY BLOK HANSON

"Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us." These words of Mary Baker Eddy's on page 201 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," came to a student of Christian Science while she was standing enjoying a fresh sea breeze coming through the open window of her house in a very hot country. And just as the wind blew away the heat from her warm face, the spiritual contemplation of this sentence blew away the heat of material ponderings she had allowed to weigh upon her thoughts during the day.

When in the quietness of spiritual light she began to analyze her thinking to see what had made her hug the tatters of negative, unfruitful brooding close about her, the student could plainly see it had been fear, or lack of faith in the omnipresence of God, good. Mrs. Eddy speaks of fear and heat as synonymous, and in the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 597) she defines "wind," in part, as "that which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things."

How important, then, that we take care to stay in the winds of "God's spiritual government," rather than submit ourselves to any belief of heat with all the irritations attached to it! For what else is heat in the light of divine Science but thoughts of ignorance, friction, and fear, whether manifested on the body or in so-called climate. Heat is unknown in the universe of the one Mind, where the friction of conflicting motives is nonexistent because impossible.

How grateful the student was for the revelation which came through the open window of her consciousness with the recognition of the winds of God's omnipotence! It enabled her to see through suppositional mortal mind's disguise and to drop the tatters of fettered conception for the unlimited aspects of unchanging reality.

In Article VIII, Section 6, of the Manual of The Mother Church by our Leader we read, "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." As students of Christian Science we need to resist daily the beliefs which mortal mind says constitute atmosphere, lest we be deceived by them and become their victims. There is but one Mind, expressing itself as one indivisible whole. Therefore no claim of friction, and consequently of heat, can originate where only the oneness of God and His ideas is involved. As we understand this, the divisions on earth and among men are seen for what they really are: confusing pictures of the so-called carnal mind, which should be vigorously opposed.

The second commandment says (Ex. 20:4), "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." May not this be interpreted metaphysically to mean: Thou shalt not entertain any human concept of the unlimited?

We know that in place of material belief in all its manifestations exist eternal verities. If, therefore, we keep the true and unlimited concept of something in thought, we demonstrate unchanging reality. If, however, we keep a limited, or unreal, concept of something in thought, we are subject to change. What we really have—home, peace, health, happiness—cannot be taken from us. Our only need to prove this is to turn away from the limited material concept to the unlimited spiritual fact. "Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us," but, as Paul advised the Galatians (5: 1), we shall "stand fast ... in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free," and not be "entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit