A few years ago, my husband and I were sitting on our patio eating dinner, when I felt a sharp pain in my foot. I had apparently been stung by a yellow jacket (a variety of wasp). My fear of the possible effects of the sting was stronger than the pain, because I was scheduled to conduct a meeting that evening of a group of women, most of whom rely on medicine for healing. Even though I had never had an allergic reaction to insect stings before, I was afraid that something might happen at the meeting.
I called a Christian Science practitioner, who agreed immediately to pray for me and reminded me of a passage from Science and Health: "All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible" (p. 514). After the telephone conversation, I sat quietly praying. It became very clear to me that I didn't need to know how a yellow jacket is useful, but that I did need to recognize its utility to God as one of His ideas. I was immediately healed of the fear, and was able to conduct the meeting without incident. By the next morning, I was completely healed of any discomfort, and I called the practitioner to thank him.
That morning telephone call was very brief, but the practitioner had firmly reminded me that the incident didn't actually happen. I knew that he meant that not one of God's ideas can be harmed or have an inharmonious experience. I wasn't quite sure why he was emphasizing it, but took it as a hint that I should expend a little more effort to understand better the fact that human discords are counterfeits of the spiritual reality of our being. I did this whenever I thought about the practitioner's comment throughout the following days.
