What is it that gives us a sense of safety and security? Isn't it feeling that we're hidden in a secret place where danger can't find us?

Animals instinctively know how to hide themselves from danger. They camouflage themselves or hold themselves motionless. I have seen the back of a flounder change from solid gray to a spotted black and gray color as it moves across the changing landscape of the ocean floor.

People, too, try to hide in different ways. A child, playing a game, nestles in the corner of a closet, poking his nose through clothing and boxes. Someone trying to escape the noisy intrusions of society looks for a quiet spot in the forest where he can think clearly. People in crowded urban areas may seek safety behind bolted doors, locked windows, and drawn shades.

It is intelligent to protect our life, health, peace of mind, even well-earned possessions. But as we all know, physical hiding places may not be enough. They are not always totally secure and safe. And even if our physical environment is never infringed upon, we may find that fear sometimes pierces our thick walls.

If safety cannot be guaranteed through human methods, what is our answer? How can we each experience the security we yearn for?

The answer lies in turning to the message of the Bible. The Psalmist said, referring to God, "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." Even though this promise of refuge was written thousands of years ago, its truth still inspires confidence in us today. Realizing that God is man's divine source is the first step in finding a sure refuge. Acknowledging that God cares for all His children opens thought to His all-embracing fathering and mothering. Within this sheltering presence of divine Love we can feel secure. We can begin to experience God's powerfully protective love.

Christ Jesus provides the example for all of us, even today, of how to find sanctuary in God's care. Where did Jesus go when he needed to find a "hiding place"? He proved that God's love and protection were always present. For example, once when he spoke to the Pharisees about his spiritual relationship to his heavenly Father, they were provoked to the point of stoning him. But Jesus found an on-the-spot refuge from their anger. John writes, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

Where did Jesus hide himself? In the crowd? Not at all. He went to his heavenly Father. He undoubtedly acknowledged his actual, spiritual identity as entirely separate from human conditions.

How can we find refuge as Jesus did? We need to turn to the spiritual truth that man, as God's perfect expression, is safe and secure in God's perfection and power. Christian Science emphasizes the spiritual fact that man, as God's beloved child, cannot wander beyond God's care. He cannot get lost, be victimized, or see himself as unwanted or rejected. God's man is always cherished and tenderly enfolded in the creator's infinite love.

It was this spiritual relationship of God and man that Jesus proved. He illustrated that his real being, Christlike and totally spiritual, was always safe in the realm of God, Spirit. He could prove this refuge right in the midst of danger, as he did when the people were going to stone him.

Jesus' whole life was an example of God's totally secure, tender caring for His children. His consciousness of his spiritual selfhood removed him from danger. Mrs. Eddy writes in her work No and Yes: "The real Christ was unconscious of matter, of sin, disease, and death, and was conscious only of God, of good, of eternal Life, and harmony. Hence the human Jesus had a resort to his higher self and relation to the Father, and there could find rest from unreal trials in the conscious reality and royalty of his being,—holding the mortal as unreal, and the divine as real."

Understanding man's perfect relationship with God, and striving to know and obey His law, give us a security that can't be invaded. God's man is never afraid, and this is who we really are. In truth we live in God's presence, totally separate from and untouched by the dangers of so-called material existence. As we come to see this more clearly through prayer and purification of thought, we'll increasingly experience true refuge, with gratitude for Jesus' example.