“It is only mortal mind’s trick to turn the holidays into something less than a joyful and harmonious occasion.”

As I collected myself to go back to school after Thanksgiving for the three weeks until the winter break, a sense of dread came over me. I felt myself becoming unsettled about work. I thought back to the time a year prior where I seemingly had great difficulty. As a teacher, a common saying around this time of the year is that "Kids get crazy around the holidays." The previous year, I had bought into this deception and was inundated by a chaotic environment.

I worked to get my peace before I went to school the next day. The thought came to me, "It wasn’t true in the first place," meaning I didn’t have to believe the story that I had a great difficulty last year. Therefore, I didn’t have to endure any discord this year.

A few days later in preparation for a Wednesday evening testimony meeting, I encountered this citation in Science & Health by Mrs. Eddy, "Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief is discordant and mortal" (S&H 184:16-18). When I rejected the false belief about man (that my students would be discordant and riled up), I experienced more harmony. The marginal heading also stood out to me: "Laws of human belief." These "laws" were not really laws at all and I certainly did not have to suffer because of them. In fact, it is only mortal mind’s trick to turn the holidays into something less than a joyful and harmonious occasion. Hymn 160 says it a different way, "Our God is good. False fears are foes – truth tatters those, when understood." I am grateful for this growth in understanding and all of the lessons learned over the past year.