Singing your way through the clouds

James E. Thurman, Jr.

Have you ever been in an airplane? Flying is so much fun! Lynn's family love to fly because they see amazing sights from the air on the way to visit exciting places. One of their favorite things to do on a plane is to watch the clouds. Sometimes they're white and puffy, like cotton. At sunrise, they're golden, and when the sun is going down, the clouds are orange and pink. Other times, clouds can be stormy black.

Lynn's family once took an airplane from California all the way back home to Florida. Lynn, who was eleven, Mom, and Dad all sat in a row. Grandma Ruth was there, too, just across the aisle. The airplane was flying along, and they all were enjoying the trip.

Talking didn't help. They needed to do something that always helps when you feel afraid—pray.

The closer the plane traveled to Florida, the darker it got outside because the sun was going down. But the clouds kept getting darker and higher, and they began to look stormy, too. The pilot came on a speaker and said that it might get bumpy up ahead. Planes sometimes fly through bumps in the air, called turbulence. It's a little bit like riding on your bicycle or in a car over a bumpy road.

Soon the airplane began tossing up and down and side to side because of the bumps. Some of the passengers, including Lynn, were afraid. Lynn had flown in airplanes many times, but today the turbulence was rougher than she had felt before. She and her family talked about how airplanes are made to fly through bumpy air, and how the pilots have many years of experience flying through all kinds of weather.

But talking didn't help. They needed to do something that always helps when you feel afraid—pray. They prayed to understand that their Father-Mother God was right there, protecting them and all the other passengers.

Mom said, "Let's sing!" Lynn wanted to sing "'Feed My Sheep.'" The words to this song in the Christian Science Hymnal were written by Mary Baker Eddy. Here's the first verse:

Shepherd, show me how to go
O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow,—
How to feed Thy sheep;
I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my footsteps stray,
I will follow and rejoice
All the rugged way.

(No. 304)

When they got to the part about the "rugged way," Lynn's dad thought that the airplane ride was like a rugged road—bumpy. But they could rejoice because they were listening to what God was telling them. They knew that because God, divine Love, is everywhere, there is no room for fear.

They were singing through the clouds. Soon they were so interested in the words they sang that they weren't afraid at all. A few minutes later, the airplane flew out of the storm clouds, and the ride became smooth again.

Once Christ Jesus and his friends, the disciples, had a very bumpy ride, too, but they weren't in an airplane. They were on a big lake in a small fishing boat. A huge storm came up and tossed the boat like a cork (see Mark 4:35—41). The disciples were afraid and woke Jesus from a nap. He wasn't afraid, though. Jesus stood and spoke to the waves and told the wind, "Peace, be still." And the storm stopped.

Jesus turned to God in prayer to help those who were afraid, not feeling well, or had done something wrong. He knew that God loves all of His children and keeps them safe. Christ Jesus was the Way-shower. This means that he showed us the way to live so that we can prove, just as he did, that trusting God heals fear and anything unhappy.

On the airplane ride, Lynn and her family turned to God, and Lynn's fear of the bumpy ride was healed. Singing the hymn was really praying out loud. You can pray this way with your family, too, whether you're in the clouds or on the ground.

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