An unusually heavy snow in mid-April had completely covered some newly blossomed flowers. It seemed only natural that the flowers would die. But the snow melted, and the flowers stood strong, expressing God-derived beauty and freshness. This reminded me of how God is protecting each of His ideas, "from the least of them unto the greatest of them." ^{Jer. 31:34;}

Is it ever possible for an idea of God to be affected by heat or cold? No. A spiritual idea lives in the divine atmosphere. Heat and cold are only effects of material belief. If we could see this clearly enough, neither plants nor people would be adversely affected by the elements.

The effects of temperature do not come from divine Love. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says that "matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain." ^{Science and Health, p. 166;} When the effects of temperature present themselves on the body, aren't the effects products of mortal mind, of wrong thinking? Since the physical body has no power to think, and since the divine Mind produces only good, then mortal mind must be the only culprit in any bad effects that result. Imperfect thoughts manifest themselves in an imperfect body.

Once, after sitting out in the sun for a while, I fell asleep. In a few hours I felt the intense heat and woke up, only to be presented with the picture of a painfully sunburned body. I thought of using some medicine to ease the pain. Wishing to replace this suggestion with the truth, I opened Science and Health to a statement on page 374: "Heat and cold are products of mortal mind."

I realized that my body couldn't tell me anything. The body, being material, had no power to dictate its terms. I needed to change my thought in order to bring about a change in my appearance, just as one must think happy thoughts before he is happy. When I woke up to the fact that the body did not have to experience pain because of too much sun, the pain went away. This showed its unreality.

These truths apply to much more than heat and cold. Tension, fatigue, fear, sickness, or any other suggestions must give way to the same inevitable truths of Christian Science, and then they will disappear. The change in the body will always follow the change in thought.

It is important to remember that merely repeating statements of truth will do nothing, for words alone won't bring one closer to God. Mrs. Eddy explains that "we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven —reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear." ^{p. 248 .} The key to wiping out any form of discord is demonstration; and here, Christ Jesus is our best example. He proved Truth's power over the body.

And only by practicing and living what I know to be the true picture of man can I win my freedom. And sometimes it's hard. But once this fact is understood, it's easier to outwit the suggestions of mortal mind about the heat of the sun or the cold of a snowstorm or anything else and claim one's true being as God's likeness.

Only good is true for the flower as well as for the individual. Governed by God in the atmosphere of Love, none of His ideas can suffer.

The Lord is with you,
while ye be with him;
and if ye seek him,
he will be found of you.

II Chronicles 15:2