In her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy gives striking guidance to those confronted with an injury. She states: “Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be” (p. 397).
A year or so ago this guidance proved practical when I inadvertently placed my bare hand on the metal handle of an ovenproof frying pan that had just been in a 400-degree oven. I had used oven mitts to remove the pan from the oven, but after adding the required ingredients, without thinking, I grabbed the hot metal handle to steady it while stirring. The pain was excruciating. Based on the spiritual reasoning in the quote above, my first response was to face down the fear by emphatically affirming that my Father-Mother God was present and the only real power. Next I recognized the need to forgive myself for not using a mitt.
At that point I chose to radically cling to what I knew was true—that I was God’s spiritual, perfect idea at that moment and always. To me, this meant refusing to accept that the material appearance of accident and injury is ever the reality. The loving God I knew through my study and practice of Christian Science could never cause anything but good to happen in His spiritual universe, and I knew that in reality I lived in Spirit—not in matter. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus declares, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). I couldn’t be perfect and at the same time be burned!
