“No man delights in the bearer of bad news,” Sophocles wrote around 440 bc. Last year I experienced two instances of “shoot the messenger” backlash because of some well-intentioned remarks I’d made to people who didn’t want to hear them.
Feeling I’d been treated unjustly, I succumbed to bouts of resentment. At the same time, a mole on my back suddenly became uncomfortable. Along with pain, there was itching that wouldn’t cease.
Realizing that resentment wasn’t a helpful response, I turned my thought to God instead, and this loved Bible verse came to mind: “Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” (Isaiah 11:9, New Living Translation).
Taking this verse to heart, I began to thank God, Love, for the perfection of spiritual man as God’s expression. I affirmed that in reality one of God’s ideas cannot offend another.
As I studied the weekly Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly, a great peace enveloped me. I knew that because God is All-in-all, goodness is all we can feel or be aware of. I saw that I didn’t have to take these incidents personally. I felt able to forgive those who were disrespectful and unkind to me, knowing that this negative behavior was no part of their real, God-created nature.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you” (p. 571). I reasoned that since I had never been outside this infinite “panoply of Love,” I could never have been touched by hatred or hurt. Soon I felt as if God was wrapping me gently in His arms, and the pain and itching ceased.
However, every now and then I was still tempted to ruminate on what had happened. At those moments I reminded myself of something I had learned in Christian Science class instruction—that as God’s ideas, we do not react, we reflect. God is all-acting, and we can experience and express only God’s harmonious action. This powerful truth has often redirected my thought to focus on what’s real and good, rather than on what’s evil and therefore unreal. Because we reflect divine Truth, we cannot react to falsehoods or injustice.
As I continued praying this way, I was able to let go of these incidents completely and be free of any lingering resentment. The two parties and I are on good terms again. And the physical symptoms have never returned.
I am deeply grateful for this example of God’s all-embracing love and the healing power of that pure love. I rejoice that we have the promised Comforter, Christian Science, always with us, helping us to forgive and go forward with grace in our hearts.
Cathryn Maycock Rathsam
San Diego, California, US
