Some years ago, my eyes became so irritated that I could hardly read. This occurred during "pollen season," but since I'd previously been healed of severe symptoms of hay fever with prayer alone, I again turned to prayer. But this time when the season passed, my eyes weren't any better.

Christian Science has taught me to begin my prayers by acknowledging God as the only Creator, creating everything (including me) spiritually in His image (see Gen. 1:27). So I reasoned in this way, knowing that God is the only true cause. God's goodness fills all space, so there could be no place for harm or irritation. Therefore, the appearance of another power had to be false, a counterfeit. I began to declare on a daily basis that because I was God's spiritual expression, I could be neither irritated, irritating, nor irritable. I called them the three "i's." In Christian Science we learn, as Mary Baker Eddy wrote, that there is only one "I," and it is the "great I AM," God (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp.267, 587).

However, in the trio of those negative "i" adjectives, I found one that stood out the most: irritable. In fact, I realized that I'd been quick to criticize members of my family in an irritable, bad-tempered, and impatient manner. As I prayed more about sight as a spiritual activity, the whole issue with my eyes took a back seat to my goal of serving God, being loving and not judgmental.

Rather then feeling guilty and accepting these negative traits as mine, I refused to accept this depiction as my true identity. I prayed, "I am the image, the exact manifestation, of divine Love; therefore, my true qualities must include compassion, patience, and kindness." Jesus instructed his disciples to pull the beam out of their own eye before offering to remove a speck from another's eye (see Matt. 7:3–5). Also the Golden Rule is not a suggestion, but an instruction to love others as ourselves.

I could see I had room for improvement.

Although it was fairly easy to claim my identity as loving, patient, and supportive, putting this improved view of myself into practice took effort. But my burning and inflamed eyes served as a reminder to me of the need to correct how I was seeing others. "Behold, the child of God," became my mental salutation to my husband and children—and myself.

When I found myself still tallying up every supposedly thoughtless action, I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. I related to her all the instances that justified my irritation, impatience, and frustration. She responded by saying, "Well, that's why God gave us doors!"

I took this literally. Instead of regaling my friends with stories of the latest issue, I'd go into a room and shut the door—and express gratitude for my husband's true spiritual nature, as well as the children that God had given to me.

Feeling gratitude for everyone in my family changed my view of their actions. My character softened, and my words became kinder and gentler; divine Love took over.

I read this in Science and Health, "Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will ... silence discord with harmony" (p. 495). I wrote the word "Let" on a bright green piece of paper and carried it with me. Let: let God; let His angels tell them and me; let my Father-Mother God guide each of us. And let me let go of any sense of being the one in charge, and let God lead.

As I followed this Bible instruction, "Be still, and know that I am God," a new rhythm of order began to grow (Ps. 46:10). As a result, my teen- and college-age children became more self-reliant, able, and organized. They blossomed in this new, less rigid atmosphere, and most important we pulled together with a greater sense of family.

This healing required a dedication on my part to express the spiritual identity and qualities of unselfed love that I was claiming as mine—and claim them for everyone. Within a few weeks my eyes were no longer red and irritated or irritating. As soon as I'd stopped holding unloving thoughts about my family members, the itching sensation ebbed away, and my eyes stopped watering. In fact, I've never had a return of this condition, in any climate or season.

LINDA WENTZEL
CROZIER, VIRGINIA, US