When I was a kid we lived on a farm and it was my job to take care of the animals. There was one little rooster who was sure he was a terrorist (but he really was a chicken!) He would ruffle up his feathers so that he thought he was the size of a giant, put his head down, raise his wings just a little, and then charge me.
It was always funny because here I was the giant in front of him, but you’d have guessed he felt he was striking terror in my heart. Of course, as he charged close to me, he would turn and strut away no longer acting as though he meant me any harm. His fierceness just melted into nothing. I’ve felt his actions and attitude are a little like mortal mind and its attempts to intimidate us. Sometimes we’ve got to smile at such a bluff, regardless of how massive the lie thinks it is with puffed up feathers! It is still nothing but a kind of “chicken.”
The simple truth is that God is All. He is omnipotent good, infinite,perfect Love. Knowing this gives us, as His child, a steady inner calm. Mary Baker Eddy offers this assurance, “And remember . . . calm strength will enrage evil. But the very heavens shall laugh at them, and move majestically to your defense when the armies of earth press hard upon you” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 338).
