Two summers ago, while I was working at a camp for Christian Scientists,...

MARY S. HOAGLAND

Two summers ago, while I was working at a camp for Christian Scientists, I had an opportunity to witness the healing power of divine Love. As a counselor, I was responsible for several camp activities, including the charge of seventeen teen-age girls. My motives to give, and to exercise good, seemed to be right ones. However, I had wrongly assumed that I was personally responsible for all this human activity. One day about midseason, I was feeling so frustrated and fatigued, I broke down into tears while reprimanding "my" campers.

Later the same day, when some of the counselors went waterskiing, I insisted on joining them, although I was really tired. While skiing, I took quite a fall and hit my head. When friends in the boat asked if they could help me, instead of letting go and accepting their aid, I willfully replied that I was going to ski in. By the time I reached the shore I felt very ill. In a great deal of pain, and semiconscious, I finally, gratefully, accepted the support and love of those around me. A Christian Science practitioner was called. Later, family members came to visit, and some campers sang hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal to me. What a humble revelation this manifestation of Love was. And all I had to do was yield to it, not willfully try to exercise it.

While I rested in the infirmary, a friend read to me from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. The answer to the question "What is God?" in the chapter "Recapitulation" was an immediate comfort (p. 465): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." I saw that, as God's child, I was always cared for. Within a few hours I was sleeping peacefully. The pain, which had felt so real, diminished.

By morning I was alert and eager to study the Bible Lesson for that week from the Christian Science Quarterly. I was indeed grateful for the heavenly freedom that had replaced the pain and a false sense of responsibility. Stubbornness and personal ambition fell away when I recognized that God is in complete control. I realized that divine Principle always governs perfectly and that willful, human efforts have no power to improve upon or to interfere with its rule.

Soon I was able to rejoin the camp activities with the right perspective on what my job really was.

The summer concluded harmoniously, and there was evidence of substantial individual growth for me as well as for many of the campers. More important, I learned that true humility is letting God's law of love operate in every circumstance.

MARY S. HOAGLAND
Watertown, Connecticut

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit