I HAD TRAVELED 500 MILES to San Diego to visit my best friend from high school. The first night I was there, we were robbed as we left a restaurant. While my friend was held at gunpoint, a second very large man came running at me from the other direction and hit me in the face, knocking me to the ground. A third man then showed up and kicked us to keep us on the ground while the other two ran away.
Though I could have felt pain and anger, I didn't feel either. I'd been working on loving people more, and even in this moment of assault, I actually felt a genuine love for these three men. I was able to see them more as innocent children of God than tough, threatening thugs. This came naturally to me, because I'd realized that the source of love is divine Love, or God. I had been learning that it's not enough to love when it seems convenient. If love has its source in the Divine, it's natural for everyone to love at all times because God always loves. And everyone deserves to be loved—unconditionally. After the attack, I prayed for myself, too, knowing that the power of Love could also heal me of the injury I'd sustained to my jaw.
When the men were gone, my friend, whose physical injuries weren't as bad as mine, helped me to my nearby motel, and called the police. They arrived, took one look at me, and insisted that I go to the hospital. First I called my mother and asked her to call a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me.
