Stargazing

THERE is nothing more beautiful than a clear night with sparkling, twinkling stars above. There are some, however, who attribute more than beauty and order to stars and planets. These people expect them to dictate and govern their lives. This is a belief that has existed for centuries. But the fact is that the movement of the stars can't really affect our lives.

This is because there is no power but God, divine Spirit. The Bible assures us in Psalms: ``Power belongeth unto God'' (62:11). God is infinite. God is All-in-all. God creates and governs the spiritual universe, including man. And because we, as God's reflection, are governed only by Him, we can be certain that no mortal phenomenon or cosmic force has any power to alter God's wholly good plan for His creation.

Christ Jesus depended solely on his Father-Mother God for guidance. Jesus' recognition of God's all-power enabled him to overcome the grave. He did not expect that all chaos would erupt because stars and planets were aligned--or not aligned--a particular way. Speaking of Jesus' resurrection, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, points out in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ``He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate'' (p. 44).

One night an unusual series of events happened to a friend, my son, and me. Our birthdays are on three consecutive days, and I later found out that many people believed that ``our stars'' were out of line that night so anything could happen!

Although I had no knowledge of this belief at the time, I began praying the minute the first telephone call came. My friend's mother had suddenly become very ill, and my friend wanted to know if we could watch her children while she saw to her mother's needs. Before we could leave to do this, we received another call from our son, who was stranded on a remote, dark stretch of highway. My husband set off to find him while I went to look after my friend's children.

I felt an urgent need to pray, so I turned my thought directly to God to pray for the spiritual understanding that God governs all harmoniously. My prayer was all-inclusive, knowing that God's healing presence includes everyone. Life is God, and man is God's reflection; therefore life has never left man and man has never left life.

I thought about the stars that light up the night sky. And about that special guiding star that led the wise men to Bethlehem. When they saw this star--symbolizing divine light--they rejoiced, for they knew they were headed in the right direction. It was clear to me that divine light was guiding my husband, who I knew was also praying, to his destination. And that's exactly what happened. On this dark night, he drove directly to the right spot and found our son. Also my friend's mother recovered from her illness--which had at first appeared life-threatening--in a few hours.

Understanding God as the only power and governing light puts our lives on a foundation of harmony. As Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, ``Science shows appearances often to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides turning daily on its own axis.'' She continues: ``As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflection of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe'' (p. 121).

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