Since my childhood, the harmattan season had always been a very difficult time for me. [Editor’s note: Harmattan is a wind on the West African coast.] I often felt a lot of anguish as this season was coming near. It is characterized by hot and dry east winds and by a dust-filled atmosphere. It was difficult for me to breathe. I would catch colds; I would cough and have headaches. These aches were chronic, and they kept me from living normally at that time of year. They were also considered to be incurable.
A few years ago, after finding Christian Science, I decided it was time to heal this situation through prayer. I turned to the teachings of Christian Science, studying the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Prayer consists in elevating our thought spiritually in order to better understand God and His creation, and our real spiritual identity. The Bible shows that God made everything perfectly. I understood that this absolute truth about creation was true about the whole universe, so I could apply this truth through prayer to how the seasons affected me.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible says, “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him” (3:14). From this, it follows that the perfection and harmony of the universe including man are perpetual. Therefore, for me too there was no season, no harmful wind to cause sickness, since the spiritual man and creation emanate from God and exist in harmony. So I didn’t have to be afraid of the harmattan.
