Which Channel Are You Watching?

[Of Special Interest to Children]

ELLEN JOYCE FLORES

Ronald and Donald are twin brothers. They enjoy watching television programs that are planned especially for children.

One summer day the twins and their mother visited a family who lived on the waterfront. The water was said to be polluted and not suitable for swimming. The children felt free and happy just to run along the sandy beach and far out onto the pier where small boats were sometimes tied.

Suddenly the happy sounds turned into calls of alarm. Ronald had jumped off the pier into shallow water and landed with his bare foot on some old rusty wire, cutting his foot badly. He cried out to his mother, who had come when the other children called.

She reminded the boys that they had learned in the Christian Science Sunday School that God is always present everywhere. And she reminded them also of what Mrs. Eddy says on page 261 of Science and Health, "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionally to their occupancy of your thoughts."

As they were driving home, she said: "This is just like one of the bad shows on TV. If something is on television that is full of sadness or evil, you turn to another channel."

"Yes," said Ronald, "that is one way I can 'hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true.' "

He had learned in Sunday School that all that God made is good and that if something is not good, God did not make it, and therefore it is not real. And he had also learned that Jesus had proved this in healing people of sickness.

Upon reaching home Ronald removed the towel that had been wrapped around his foot. His mother told him, "Put your shoes on and turn to Channel 7." She explained that the number seven symbolizes completeness and that he should turn his thought to the seven names for God: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

A sweet sense of joy filled Ronald's consciousness. He knew that he was really the image of God, reflecting His wholeness, as understood by the spiritual meaning of these synonyms.

After a happy game with Donald he suddenly realized that he was not limping. "Look, Mother, I'm all right now!" he exclaimed. By the next morning the wound had completely healed.

"We shall never forget this lesson of changing channels," declared the twins. Then they found the passage in the Bible where Paul said (Phil. 4:8), "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

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