Dianne Sees "Truth's honest child"

[Of special interest to juniors]

MARY FOX PUMPHREY

Each day except Sunday Dianne went to the large pool for swimming lessons with her swimming team. It was all so much fun she didn't want to miss a day. Then quite suddenly all the fun seemed to end when a certain boy known as "the pest" began tormenting her.

This boy seemed to get more pleasure from teasing and being rude than he got from swimming. And if he thought the coach was not watching, he often cheated in this way: by not going all the way across the pool, he could start back ahead of the others.

At different times he had been reported to the coach and as punishment he had to get out of the pool. But this did not correct the situation, for as soon as he thought no one was watching him, he always slipped back into the pool and was just as much of a pest as before.

Dianne was a Christian Scientist, and she knew Christ Jesus' commandment, "That ye love one another, as I have loved you." ^{John 15:12;} And she really did try hard to be loving and kind to this boy, but it didn't seem to change him. She had demonstrated the healing power of Christian Science for herself in many different ways, but she was finding it difficult to continue being nice to the boy as he persisted in being mean and dishonest.

Then one Sunday Dianne told her Sunday School teacher about the situation, and they discussed the problem. He helped her to see that in reality all of God's children express Truth. She knew that Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." ^{Science and Health, pp. 476, 477;}

For a few days it was necessary for Dianne to be absent from the pool. During this time she tried hard to hold to the "correct view of man." She recalled the time that her Sunday School class had been asked to make a list of the real qualities of thought and another list of the unreal qualities. Then quite suddenly she realized that the real, spiritual qualities of thought were being expressed by all of God's children and not by just a few.

As she thought of the unreal qualities that the boy had seemed to express, she replaced them with thoughts of Godlike qualities. Now she could see that God's reflection always expresses love, purity, gentleness, and truthfulness, not meanness, rudeness, disobedience, and dishonesty. Dianne's heart sang with joy and gratitude, for she knew that in gaining this correct view, she had the answer to her problem.

She was thinking in line with the Apostle Paul's message, "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." ^{Phil. 4:8;}

And now Dianne could see where she had made her mistake. At first she had tried to be loving and kind to the boy while she was seeing him as mean and dishonest. She was so grateful that she could now see only the real man, "Truth's honest child," as a hymn describes the "child of the perfect One,"

Thou art Truth's honest child,
Of pure and sinless heart;
Thou treadest undefiled
In Christly paths apart. Christian Science Hymnal, No. 382 .

On the day that Dianne returned to the pool, the boy who had been called "the pest" came up to her and said: "I'm sorry I was so mean to you and cheated so much. I won't do it again. Can we be friends?" And she was grateful that she could freely answer Yes.

When Dianne explained to the boy how very much she wanted to be a good swimmer, he said that he too wanted to make an effort to improve. So for several months now she and her new friend have been swimming side by side; and swimming is once more a lot of fun.

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