It was a beautiful morning. My husband and I had gone out for a walk along the seashore. There was no wind, and all we could hear was the sound of the waves breaking gently, steadily on the shore.
But as we advanced, the coming and going of the ocean made me feel dizzy, and I would occasionally lose my balance. My husband told me not to look down at the water but to look up, and my steps would become steadier.
And that’s what happened. When I looked up, the dizziness passed and I was able to walk with greater confidence and stability.
After we got home, I kept thinking about the advice to look up and how many times I had needed to do that over the years in more ways than one. In the Bible there are many references to looking up when the ground underneath us seems unsteady or our security or health uncertain. For instance, it says in Psalms, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help” (121:1). And in the book of Isaiah, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (45:22). Amid illnesses, financial and relationship difficulties, and discords of all kinds, whenever I’ve looked up, or turned from matter or the body to divine Spirit, God—who fills all space and is everywhere—I’ve experienced healing. Healing is a natural result of awakening to the harmony and perfection of God’s creation—something I saw recently when I was shopping at a mall with one of my daughters.
On a section of the floor where a lot of water had accidentally been spilled, I slipped and fell forcefully. The first thought that came to me was “Not one of his bones will be broken,” a paraphrase of a verse in Psalm 34: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken” (verses 19, 20).
While I remained on the floor and tried to collect my thoughts, my daughter sat down next to me, holding my hand. I know that she had begun praying as well, and she called a Christian Science practitioner to request metaphysical treatment on my behalf.
Despite feelings of helplessness and pain, I felt surrounded by so much love. Several people approached us and offered a hand to help me up, even with the many restrictions imposed by the pandemic. I graciously declined their kind offer and knew with absolute certainty that God was present. I felt God through the generosity of all these people, which was greater than mistrust or fear of illness.
Every one of us naturally reflects God’s love, which responds to every need. The shopping center’s staff gently transported me in a wheelchair to a doctor’s office, where, in compliance with the mall’s regulations, I got a cursory examination and my wounds were cleaned. The doctor determined that I was fine.
When I got home, however, the pain became excruciating and inhibited any movement. I was afraid there had been a fracture the doctor hadn’t found. However, I resisted getting pulled into thoughts about the injury, which I knew were not from God, the one all-knowing Mind. I declared that the Christian Science practitioner’s prayers were effective; they recognized only one supreme power, or divine Principle, and its eternal laws of harmony and perfection. She shared with me this statement from an article published in the Christian Science Sentinel: “As shadows come into contact with one another and no harm ensues, so the impact of material objects in what is called an accident makes no impression on the true consciousness—because in the realm of Spirit, nothing has happened!” (Sharon Carper, “The care that never leaves us,” May 13, 2013).
I trusted that truth and in my prayers affirmed that my identity was spiritual, and that a spiritual idea, or reflection of God, is intact and incapable of falling or failing; therefore, I could not have had an accident or suffer from its effects.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (p. 424). To say an accident has occurred would imply that God does not govern His creation and leaves it at the mercy of chance or luck. And that is impossible!
In the days ahead I persisted in knowing that there had never been an accident, nor was there anything that needed to be healed, since God’s creation is always safe; that God is all good, and His goodness fills all space and leaves no place for sickness or evil to exist or manifest itself; that we are governed not by material laws of chance but by the divine law of harmony; and that matter has no laws and is incapable of creating them. The belief that we can suffer from an accident is just part of the illusion that we live in matter and are subject to its assumed laws. Just as I had raised my gaze while walking by the sea, I endeavored to keep my thought elevated on these spiritual facts, above pain and immobility.
At one point it occurred to me that even though I feared that I had suffered a fracture, nothing could affect my spiritual identity or interrupt my unbreakable relationship to God, the source of my life, Life itself. That was a very special moment, as I had a strong feeling that God was with me, had always been with me, and that no suggestion could separate me from that sweet assurance of His presence.
As I continued reflecting on these ideas, although there was still occasional pain, it no longer prevented me from walking. Any impressions of the fall faded, as did the bruises and all traces of the incident. Before long, I was going about my usual tasks without any pain and without physical supports.
I was also healed of condemnation. I had been blaming not only myself for not looking where I was stepping but also the people who had spilled the water and not dried it up. This dissolved when I saw the innate innocence of God’s children and reasoned that blaming carelessness and irresponsibility would be giving the accident a cause and making it and its aftereffects a reality in my thought.
The practitioner’s prayerful treatment was invaluable, as was the loving support of my family. All of this resulted in making a greater effort on my part to know God and to continue learning how His powerful love cares for us, protects us, and surrounds us. When we look up—to God—we see we are governed by Love’s perfect law of harmony rather than by the randomness of human events, or by matter’s spurious laws. And our steps become steady.
