The Swimming Meet

Alice Taylor Reed

Kevin was an expert swimmer who went to a pool every day to work out under a fine coach. He'd been doing it since he was ten years old and he hardly ever missed.

Kevin woke up one night with an earache. The pain persisted for several days and nights. He was out of school and didn't even want to think about swimming.

But the time wasn't wasted. He was learning to listen for God's voice, to turn from the false concept of a physical ear to the true concept of ears Mrs. Eddy gives in Science and Health: "Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding."^{Science and Health, p. 585;}

His mother suggested that he also think deeply about the meaning of the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."^{Ex. 20:3;} She explained that since God is Spirit, we can't think of matter as a god, or pain as a god, without breaking the first commandment. To let our thought or action be subject to matter or pain would be allowing them to rule us.

Kevin tried to be obedient in his thought to the first commandment. He really tried. The more he did it, the easier it was. He became more consistent in keeping the law—in realizing the allness of God, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter. The pain ceased and his hearing became normal.

His coach previously had entered him in a swimming meet scheduled for the next day, and Kevin woke up the morning of the meet wondering what to do. He felt like going, but he wondered, Would getting in the water bring a return of the trouble? He didn't want that!

His Bible was within reach, and he had put a marker in it for the Commandments. He opened to them and started to read the second one: "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."^{v. 4 .}

He began to reason: "These laws are spiritual laws. They are unchanging and I can count on them. A swimming pool is not exactly 'water under the earth,' but I can be sure that because God is All there is nothing about the water that can hurt me. I won't have any other gods before God."

He packed his suit and towel and went to the meet. It was good to be back with his friends again. It was good to dive into the pool. He swam as fast as he could to the other end, flipped a turn, and raced back to the starting point. Even the chlorine smelled good! He had never felt better.

It was the end of that ear trouble. And the beginning of a new appreciation for the Commandments.

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