One fine midmorning not too long ago, I sat down on the couch to enjoy some quiet time before lunch. As I was resting there, I watched a bee enter my room through the small gap at the bottom of the door. Soon, two more followed. I swatted them with a slipper. When I looked outside my window, I noticed that there were several more bees flying around.
My next-door neighbor keeps thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of bees for making honey. On this day they had apparently wandered from their beehives over to my home. The bees continued to enter the house in large numbers, and I was afraid. I did not think to plug the gap underneath the door. The noise from the buzzing was loud and disturbing. And I worried that I might get stung many times and that it somehow could be dangerous.
The bees were many now and were gathering on the inside of one of the windows, forming a cluster. I didn’t want to open the windows to let them out for fear others would come in. It seemed that there was nothing I could do to rid myself of them, and they were starting to overwhelm me. I tried my best to calm down, and I sat down to pray.
As a Christian Scientist, in times of fear I turn to God, because as the psalmist says, He is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). The Bible gives accounts of many who turned to God in times of trouble and were delivered from harm, such as Daniel, who was protected in the lions’ den, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who escaped the smoke and flames of the fiery furnace.
Soon, I got busy making lunch, even with the bees buzzing around me. I didn’t agitate them in any way, and I was getting less fearful. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes: “The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering” (p. 387). What modicum of faith and spiritual understanding I had was sufficient to keep lifting me up in thought and alleviating my fear.
A very clear thought, also from Science and Health, came to me: “Mind is All” (p. 109). In Christian Science, Mind is a synonym for God. I held to the truth that as an idea in Mind I was under the government and control of Mind, and that every idea of God moves in the harmony and order of divine Mind, not in the material chaos that was presenting itself. I prayed to see that the bees also moved at Mind’s direction, and couldn’t, in reality, cause me harm. It was then that the noise of the buzzing began to die down. It became quieter and quieter, and in proportion, my fear left.
I slowly opened the windows and spoke kindly to the bees, saying, “You are free to go.” And off they flew. No other bee entered. After several minutes, the house was completely clear of them. The whole experience lasted about two hours. It was amazing to me that not once did I think of running outside, nor did I scream in terror. Harmony had been restored and I was unharmed.
I am very grateful to be able to share this experience of God’s allness and ever-presence. And I’m grateful to Mrs. Eddy for her discovery of Christian Science, God’s laws of goodness and harmony, which each of us can practice and utilize.
Nellie Wanjiku
Nanyuki, Kenya
