One afternoon this past winter, I was working at my office and started feeling slightly ill. It was a busy day and I didn’t have much time to think about it, so I plugged along for the remainder of the day. However, when I arrived at home that evening, as I walked in the door, I suddenly started to face more acute symptoms of the flu.
We had heard some news reports about the flu during the winter, and there was a lot of talk about it in various circles. My wife and I had been alert and done our best individually to dispute the reports’ claims that people could be susceptible to contracting a seasonal disease. We had refused to accept the prediction that flu symptoms would be prevalent. However, when I arrived at home that evening and was suddenly feeling all the symptoms that had been described, I found myself thinking, “You’re home now and you don’t feel well, so just get into bed, and you’ll probably have to stay home tomorrow and nurse this for a couple of days.” But immediately, as that erroneous picture presented itself to me, I thought, “This is ridiculous! I do not have to accept this verdict or believe it for one minute.”
Mary Baker Eddy instructs on page 495 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought.” I was surely being tempted by the illusion of sickness, and I just needed to see this for what it was—a false mental suggestion. I needed to “stand porter at the door of thought,” as she teaches on page 392 of Science and Health.
I decided that I was not going to get comfortable in bed and follow the formula that mortal mind was trying to sell me. Instead, I claimed my true spiritual selfhood as an idea of divine Mind and quietly knew that I was whole, healthy, and free of any of these erroneous symptoms, because my real identity could not include any of them. My wife and I had dinner and a quiet evening, and I continued to declare to myself, knowingly, that I could not be touched by this illness, and that it had no power over me or anyone else. I felt better as the evening progressed, went to bed at my normal time, and slept well all night. The next morning I awoke feeling fine and continued through the day without any vestige of the illness I had dealt with the day before. And I had no further issues with any of these symptoms for the rest of the winter.
I am very grateful for this quick proof of the power of divine Love to keep us healthy and whole, and for numerous other healings my family and I have experienced over many years through the study of Christian Science.
New York, New York, US
