"Good is natural and primitive. It is not miraculous to itself" (Science and Health, p. 128). Every time I read this passage, I'm reminded of an experience in which it was just the truth I needed. At the beginning of a new school year, I was teaching first grade. But instead of putting all of my effort into my job, I was just going through the motions. I was letting myself be distracted by an unusual and upsetting family situation. I felt as though I had to solve it somehow through my own effort. Not coincidentally, my class seemed very hard to handle. They seemed easily distracted by little things all day long. Frankly, I wasn't having very much fun.
While rushing around before school one morning, I cut my thumb on a paper cutter. It sliced through the nail, and the cut seemed to be pretty deep. I wasn't sure what to do at first, but I definitely wanted to talk to a Christian Science practitioner. I still remember his assurance that right where I was, God is, and God loved me. The practitioner also reminded me that I could have a Christian Science visiting nurse come and bandage my thumb. I did this, and the nurse was so loving and unimpressed by the cut. She helped me bandage it several times in the next couple of weeks. My new thumbnail grew back perfectly, and the thumb is now perfectly normal.
But the part of this experience I cherish most is what I learned from it. I found that by feeling responsible for solving the family situation, I was in a way trying to do God's work. I didn't need to personally intervene in this situation. I needed to know that God was in control, and that He would take care of things much better than I ever could. What I needed to do was my own work—with all of the love, creativity, and joy that I reflected from my real Father-Mother, God.
