AFTER ALL THE Thanksgiving guests had gone home and the leftovers had been put away, I congratulated myself on having shown restraint. Though a big fan of homemade stuffing and pumpkin pie, I had somehow managed to eat in moderation and not let fear of calories and overindulgence rule the day.
But late that night, I began to experience what had been widely described in media reports as stomach flu. Despite my self-control earlier in the day, it was all coming up now anyway. I decided to tough it out, and not wanting to wake anyone up, I retired to a downstairs bathroom for the rest of the night.
The next day, I finally turned to prayer and spiritual study for healing. The opening line of a favorite hymn was especially comforting: "Not what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art" (Horatius Bonar, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 195). It was a call to subdue the material sense of my well-being and to start acknowledging my divine source, God, and His healing presence. But as the day progressed, I went through more of the same symptoms. The prospect of enduring another all-night session left me more than a little downhearted. Mentally, the questions tumbled out: "What's going on? Why won't this yield? How long am I going to have to put up with this?"
