We Do Not Need to Flee!
HAVEN'T we all wished we could run away from our problems at one time or another! But running away when things are going badly never really changes anything. In fact, when I've tried it, the problems just come right along with me. That's why I was so happy to find out I didn't need to flee. I could find freedom by turning to God right where I was.
God doesn't change. And He's never somewhere else more than He is right here and right now. We can depend on Him to bring healing to our experience. Turning to God, infinite good, we find immediate comfort and sure healing solutions to whatever is confronting us. Right where we are, right this very moment, God is present to meet our every need. In Matthew's Gospel we read Christ Jesus' assurance ''With God all things are possible'' (19:26).
God loves each of us with a love that is eternal. We can never be separated from His love for us. We can never be anywhere in which divine Mind, God, is not ready and willing to care for us and supply us with every right idea we need to be comforted, loved, and safe. We don't need to run away to be safe, because the healing touch of the Christ is ever present to dispel hopelessness and bring the light of God's love into view.
God, Spirit, never created us as poor, helpless mortals. His creation is wholly spiritual, wholly complete, and wholly good. The present fact is that man is--we are--already perfectly cared for and provided with all good. We don't have to go somewhere else for this to be true; this fact, understood and acknowledged, brings healing and freedom to our experience right where we are.
The kingdom of God fills all space, and we live and move within this kingdom. We are always within it, where we can see only evidence of the Truth that is God, the Life that is God. We live in a perfect place. Our associates are God's ideas, and God's ideas bless each other and harmonize perfectly. We embody only what God knows and manifests. We live to glorify Him right where we are today!
One woman's experience shows how surely we can depend on God right where we are, no matter what confronts us. When she saw a tornado headed right for her home, she did not attempt to flee from it. Instead, she fearlessly told her household to go to the windows and squarely face that threat with the unshaken conviction that destructiveness was no part of God's creation. Their prayer was effective. The tornado turned aside and dissipated over the nearby hills, doing no damage to her home or to the neighboring town (see We Knew Mary Baker Eddy [Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1979], p. 193).
The woman was Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. She is the author of a book entitled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which has helped many to stop fleeing from their problems and find healing right at hand by unlocking the Bible's practical, healing message.
The Bible assures us that God is always present to lift us up, guide us, and preserve us. In Psalms we read: ''Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee'' (139:712).
Mrs. Eddy assures us in Science and Health, ''There is no power apart from God'' (p. 228). As we refuse to believe in any power other than God and instead fill our consciousness with the certainty of the presence of divine Love, we find evil fleeing from us. Lack, inharmony, danger, sickness, disappear in the face of God-given solutions right at hand, and these are fully adequate to meet every need. This understanding of God is available to each of us right now, right where we are. And nothing can tempt us to run away from the blessings God is pouring into our humble hearts.
