There was a period in my experience when I was chronically upset and ill. I had three teenage daughters whose behavior was causing me much distress. One day I was complaining to my mother about this situation. She retorted that I must see perfect God and perfect man. She was referring to a statement in Science and Health: "The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,—perfect God and perfect man,—as the basis of thought and demonstration" (p. 259). I replied, "Fine, Mother, you live with them."
Then one day I fell down the basement stairs, breaking the fall with my chin. When I was helped off the floor, it was apparent that I had dislocated my jaw. I went upstairs and looked in the mirror, and instantly the thought of perfect God and perfect man from that conversation came into my thought. I called a Christian Science practitioner to treat me through prayer. I realized that I had been seeing my children as fallen. Yet I was the one who fell. They were happy and healthy. I now prayed to heal my own thought of this sin that seemed to have so dislodged me from health.
Several weeks later, when I was tempted to argue with one daughter, I quickly went to my room, praying to see man as God's child. That night my jaw moved back into place, and I could again eat normally. This healing did much to elevate my spiritual understanding and stood me in good stead for the next challenge.
