I was headed to Massachusetts to see my daughter Sarah, her husband, Jamie, and their two children, Korbin and Kayson. It was a long overdue trip: I hadn’t visited them in many months. I boarded the Amtrak around 2:00 a.m. in Toledo, Ohio. I took an empty seat near the front of the car and looked forward to the trip.
All was quiet and peaceful except for the clickety-clack of the rails and the soft sound of the whistle at each railroad crossing. I got a little bit of sleep, woke up around 6:00 a.m. and began reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson on “Unreality.” Then, a few minutes later, a family of six woke up and all began coughing, snuffing, and sneezing. It was all I could do to concentrate on reading. In the past those types of noises had made me feel nauseated, but I’d prayed about it over the years and had overcome that tendency. However, it seemed wrong that they—and I—should be so uncomfortable on what was to be a 14-hour trip!
As I continued to read the Lesson, I was so grateful that it gave healing instances of Love’s healing power. What first came to my thought was this question: “What is contagious?” In a short time I had written this response: “Only good is contagious; only love, only peace, joy, health, harmony, and innocence.” A glow of love, warm and irrepressible, enveloped my thought, including this family, my family, my church family, and on ad infinitum. This love reminded me of a phrase from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, where she speaks of God and man “as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love” (p. 577). It felt as if I, and everyone around me, was surrounded and held by this universal Love right there in the train.
