The day before a recent holiday, I awoke with all the symptoms of a cold. As this was to be a joyous family gathering of four generations, I was particularly discouraged to be so visibly ailing. I actually thought to myself, “This is unacceptable.” Then it hit me: OK, then don’t accept it.
So, I immediately shut myself in a closet. Not just the figurative sanctuary of prayer that Jesus recommended (see Matthew 6:6) and Mary Baker Eddy further explained (see Science and Health, p. 15); but literally, a walk-in closet, where we were staying, that afforded me privacy and quiet.
What I did next can only be described as ferocious opposition to the symptoms and outward evidence presenting itself. My support came from two facing pages in Science and Health (pp. 390 and 391). I’d always thought of the ideas on those pages as “industrial strength” Christian Science, but now, more than ever, I was struck with Eddy’s unflinching commands: dispute; oppose; destroy; disagree; dismiss; deny; defeat; overthrow; blot out; banish; contradict. Whoa! There was no compromising with matter there, only an absolute assertion of my perfection as a spiritual idea of God, Love.
