Have you ever been in a really thick fog? So thick that you couldn't see down to the end of your street?

I've seen fog like that. Beyond my backyard is a big field with an elementary school in it. On very foggy days, I can't see the school—and it's a big building! If people who didn't know the place walked by, they wouldn't even know it was there. But I never doubt that it's there.

I know the fog can't change that building one tiny bit. It can't move it down the road, turn it around, change its shape, or take even a few little bricks out. And never once have I wondered if the children would have a place to go and learn. That's because I know about fog. I understand that it is like a low cloud covering things until the sun dries it up or the wind blows it away.

You know, scary problems are a little like fog. They try to hide God's all-goodness, His ever-presence and all-power. They try to trick us into thinking that the problems are real and that God's goodness is not with us. They try to make us afraid, so we'll forget about God's perfect, happy, all-good creation and pay attention to the problem. But you see, like the fog hiding the school building, those lies can't ever—not for one instant!—blot out or touch any part of God's goodness.

The very first chapter of Genesis in the Bible is a record of everything that's ever going to go on in God's perfect, spiritual creation. It tells us God made everything and saw that it was very good. You might have a parent or friend help you read this chapter. Look for all that God made and all that is "good" and "very good."

Did you find the spot where it talks about plants? How about the creatures in the sea or in the pasture? Did you find where pets are included? How about your friends or your mom and dad? And did you find yourself in there?

Now, look at the first verse in chapter two of Genesis to find out how God's creation turned out. It was "finished." The word finished means you can't do anything else to it. You can't add or take away even a little something. It's "very good," and it doesn't need a bit of changing. It's like when you finish a picture at school and hand it in to your teacher. You're done, and that's that! God's creation is that way, too—finished, done, and just perfect.

If creation is finished and all good, then there can't be any place for problems. We can take anything that seems scary to us and see if there's any record of it in that first chapter of Genesis. If you can't find it as God made it, then it's not part of His creation, so it can't be anywhere in His creation. And it can't be where you are now.

When you understand that the problem is not in God's creation, you will no longer be afraid of it or let it make you believe God's goodness can be hidden. The problem can't touch you. Children go to that school beyond my backyard happily and freely even on foggy days. And you can go on your way—sure of God's presence and of your perfection, being happy and free.

These ideas helped me when I heard on the news that one person had done something very bad that had hurt many people. Lots of people everywhere were very sad and afraid. It made me feel so sad I almost forgot that only God's good creation and God's good man are happening.

I prayed to see things the way God made them, the way He knows them—as "very good." That's when I thought about the fog. My prayers helped me understand that the children of God can't ever be separated from God, good. Just as that school building could never be taken away, changed, or destroyed by the fog, so God's man could never be hidden or hurt by evil.

This whole situation was actually a fog-lie trying to cover up the truth of God's man, who is perfect and very good. My prayers showed me that I didn't need to stay in the fog, but that I could trust the facts about God and man found in the first chapter of Genesis, and go on my way, free to feel and express God's goodness and love. I could see in myself and others the spiritual facts. And my prayers might lead me to do something helpful.

In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy writes about "the sunlight of Truth" (p. 162). What does sunlight do to fog? It causes it to disappear. Mrs. Eddy tells us that is exactly what Truth, God, does to error. She writes, "Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator" (ibid., p. 557). Divine Science, or Christian Science, is God's law. And coexistent means living together at the same time, in the same place.

Every time we know the truth about God's perfect creation and stick to it, we are clearing away the fog-lies. The lies don't have a chance in the presence of the light of Truth! And we can't help but be free.

We help the world as we become more alert to let the spiritual facts shine in us each moment. We know a fog-lie for what it is, and we won't let it move in and hide the light that is ours. We'll just stay with the truth of God's present, perfect creation, holding to the fact that we've always been in and can never leave His care.