How can we lose the nagging fear that some unexpected occurrence might take harmony out of our life?

Wherever we are, we are protected by God's love and tender care for each and every one of His children. Willingness to accept the wonderful fact that God, infinite Spirit, fills all space as good and good alone, opens the door to confidence in God's protection.

In reality, we live in God, in infinite Spirit, as His pure, spiritual idea. God's allness precludes the possibility that man, His creation, can be harmed in any way. No evil presence or power exists, because God is the only power and presence there is. The recognition and acceptance of this have a potent effect in our daily experiences. We find ourselves willing to be directed by God, no matter how large or small the activity. We constantly know that we are guided, guarded, and controlled by God, divine Mind, in every step we take.

About two years ago it was reported on both local and national news that a man, in the simple process of mowing his lawn, ran over an underground cavern of bees and was stung thousands of times. I felt impelled to pray about this. Responding in this way to these kinds of reports, knowing that man really lives as a safe idea in the allness of Spirit, we help our community and the world by bringing into the atmosphere of human thought the protecting spiritual truth that renders evil powerless.

In this instance, I prayed diligently to know that God's man cannot be harmed by any of God's creatures, that everything in His universe is good. I was vehement in declaring to myself that God's man is not vulnerable mortal. Science and Health gives an outstanding description of what man really is: "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness.... Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique" (p. 475).

Interestingly, that summer my husband and I had purchased some plants for our yard. After we'd planted the ones designated for the backyard, there was only one small tree left to plant. It was to go in our front yard in a corner next to our garage. Weeks and then months went by without either of us having time to plant it. I just kept watering it in its pot.

Then one day, bumblebees began to appear in increasing numbers near our garage. Since there are children in our neighborhood, I decided it was appropriate for all concerned that I call an exterminator.

After the exterminator had analyzed the situation, he told us not to mow the grass close to the corner of the garage for at least a week because stray bees would be coming back there for a while. He said he had discovered a cavern of bumblebees under a shrub in the corner near our garage—just where we had planned to plant that little tree. He said how protected we'd been from being covered with bee stings if we'd disturbed this cavern, which went for several feet around the base of that shrub.

God gives man dominion, and God controls even the smallest activities—even gardening—when we are willing to be governed by Him.

Willingness to be governed by Him does take diligence on our part, however. A number of years ago I used to look out our window to a neighbor's yard. The entire corner yard was planted with small English ivy cuttings. I thought it was something very special. However, as the weeks and months went by, the individuals who were renting the house never pulled the weeds in between that gorgeous ivy. By the time the owner discovered the weeds, they had grown to over five feet tall and he had to have all the ivy plowed under and replanted.

This incident, as well, has been a vivid reminder to me to keep the "weeds" out of my thinking before it is taken over by wrong actions and conclusions. If I'm to hear God's guidance in my life, I mustn't let any thoughts lodge in my thinking that don't come from divine Mind, from God alone. I must daily weed out criticism, hatred, revenge. As I watch and read the news, I mustn't blindly accept what the material senses are telling me about man. The man that God created in His image is not harmful or at risk.

It's vitally important that we know that God and God alone governs His creation in perfect harmony. Discord is unreal, never created by God, the only cause and creator. Harmony is divine law.