Melting the Mist

[Of Special Interest to Children]

JUNE RICE SCHEETZ

In the Christian Science Sunday School, Brian had learned that God made the whole universe, that He made it good, and that He made man in His likeness. Brian noticed that when something was not good, his Sunday School teacher called it error.

"What is error?" Brian asked his mother. She told him that when she was a child, she could see a tower on the top of a hill on her way to school. It was built of large stones and looked like a castle. On misty or foggy mornings, it was hard to see the tower. And on some days the air moved in such a way that the tower looked as if it were wobbling. Brian thought it was funny to imagine that the big, solid rocks could move.

"On some days, the sun would suddenly break through." said Mother, "and melt the mist so I could see the tower. Truth is like the sunshine. Error can't stay where Truth is." Then Brian could see that error is only name for something that pretends to be.

Brian's class in Sunday School were encouraged to look up words in the Glossary in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. One day, when he was suffering from an earache, Brian was glad he had learned to find the truth in this way. His mother told him to read in the Bible and in Science and Health until he came to something he could understand.

This day was Sunday, and even though he couldn't go to Sunday School, Brian thought he would look up a word in the Glossary, as his friends in Sunday School might be doing that morning. So he turned to the definition of "ears" on page 585 of Science and Health and read: "Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding. Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, 'Having ears, hear ye not?' (Mark viii. 18.)"

Brian turned to the Bible to find Jesus' words there. He saw that both Christ Jesus and Mrs. Eddy were talking about understanding. He found it hard to know that his ear couldn't hurt, but he could see that his understanding couldn't hurt. Some of the mist of error was lifting.

Then Brian fell asleep; and when he awoke, he felt better but still couldn't turn his head. So he opened the Bible again and read (Gen. 1:6), "God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

"Firmament" was a new word to Brian, so he went into the kitchen to show it to Mother. She opened Science and Health to the chapter entitled "Genesis" and showed Brian these words (p. 505): "Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal." Mother told Brian that this angel thought about understanding would help him to see the difference between the real and unreal.

Brian went back to his room to think about this. A little later, his father and his sister, Susan, came home. That Sunday, Susan's Sunday School teacher had asked her to memorize these words in the Bible: "God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). Mother explained to both children that these words matched the ones Brian had found, because light also means understanding. Susan turned to Brian and said, "God said, Let there be understanding; so you have it."

Soon their mother heard both children racing in the hall, and Brian was saying, "Oh, boy, I can turn my head!" Brian had been thinking about the truth all morning, and little by little he had been changing his thinking about himself to good thoughts only. Then when his sister brought home another good thought, it had been like the last ray of sunshine that completely melts the mist.

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Finding One's Life in Christ

October 24, 1964

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