I often carry my smartphone in a rear pocket of my trousers. Rather than sitting on the phone, when I used a ride sharing car recently, I took it out and laid it on the seat next to me—then forgot to take it with me when I left the car. I didn’t realize my mistake until the driver was out of sight.
I tried contacting the ride share company from my computer but was told that all their drivers are independent operators, so I could not get in touch with my driver directly. Instead, they would have to let him know I had left my phone in his car and give him my contact information so that he could get in touch with me and return the phone.
Not having one’s phone these days is almost akin to losing contact with the world. All the names and numbers for my family, friends, and business contacts were stored in the phone. I just hoped that the driver would respond to the company’s phone calls and emails.
Not having your phone these days is almost akin to not having contact with the world.
After a couple of days with no word from him, I knew I had to pray about this. Self-condemnation needed to be silenced, as well as the belief that I was prone to forgetting things. I also needed to see my driver not as a dishonest mortal but as a child of God. I really had to “love my neighbor as myself.” All this I did, but still no phone.
The First Commandment states, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Mary Baker Eddy expands on this in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, explaining that there is only one Mind, and this Mind is God. As God’s reflection, man doesn’t have a mind of his own but spiritually expresses the one Mind. This means there is no separate mind to lose focus or forget things and then berate itself. As I prayed for myself in this way, I also saw both the driver and all who worked for the ride share company in the embrace of this infinite Mind and endeavored to love them as God loves them.
I needed to see my driver not as a dishonest mortal but as a child of God.
Once again I contacted the company and was told they had tried to get in touch with the driver but he was “not responsive” to their calls. When I heard that phrase, it was like a light bulb turning on in my thought. I saw I needed to claim that, like me, the driver was the obedient child of God, receptive and responsive to God. This brought peace.
The next day our doorbell rang. It was my driver standing there, smiling as he held out my phone and said, “Here is your phone that you left in my car.” We shook hands and I thanked him profusely (and gave him an extra tip).
Needless to say, I’m happy to have my phone back. But I’m even more grateful for the Science of Christ, which teaches us how to see and love everyone as the perfect expression of God.
