Not long ago I noticed that a sore had developed on my lip. It was painful, and for months it did not heal. During this time I was praying, listening, for an answer from God. The thought came not to let things irritate me or get under my skin, and that I couldn’t irritate others or be irritated by another’s mind-set or actions.
This thought seemed relevant to a situation a year earlier. I had been bothered by an individual’s actions, which kept bubbling up in my thought. I’d felt helpless to respond to the situation that resulted from these actions; it seemed that no matter how I might do so, it would backfire.
As I thought about it, many helpful healing ideas came from the weekly Christian Science Bible Lessons. For instance, the following from Second Peter: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (1:5–7)-—“charity” meaning spiritual love.
