About six years ago, while I was supervising some students on a particularly difficult term-paper assignment, I began suffering severe back pains. I was unable to bend over without bracing myself, thus making it very difficult for me to carry out my domestic and professional responsibilities. To continue in this condition seemed more than I could bear.
Finally one morning I reached out wholeheartedly for divine Mind to reveal what was inhibiting me from seeing myself as a perfect reflection of the one, perfect Father-Mother God. At that point I realized that the students I was directing on term papers had become frustrated and resentful toward me. They felt my demands were unreasonable. In trying to alleviate their fears and reassure them, I had assumed full responsibility for the weight of the assignment and the burden they were feeling. This burden seemed directly related to the physical trouble.
Two Bible verses in the Bible Lesson outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly provided the inspiration and comfort I needed (Ps. 139:2, 3): "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways."
