God governs the weather

During this winter, I realized the need to take a stand on damaging winter storms, particularly high winds. We live in a rural area at a relatively high elevation, and in winters past we have suffered significant tree loss and wind damage. When the first Nor’easter of this winter arrived with high winds, I worked with Irving Tomlinson’s recollections of Mrs. Eddy’s guidance ‘that Christian Scientists should not attempt to control the weather… [but that] we should know that God governs the weather and no other influence can be brought bear on it.’ To me, if God was all, and all good, there was no place, no effect nor power that could be destructive. The work that first evening wasn’t arduous or complex, it was simple, clear, direct – and perhaps the best part was I knew immediately in my ‘heart of hearts’ it would be effective – it was the first time I had ever experienced that perception. The winds did die down, all became quiet, the snow beautiful, and I went to sleep. Not that time is ever factor in any healing, but it was instructive to me that I did not work for more that 15-20 minutes. In the morning my wife, who knew nothing of my work the previous evening, remarked on how quiet things had become overnight. This work was repeated for the two other Nor’easters with the same results – in all three storms we had no wind damage, and our immediate area had no power outages, though we had substantial snow.

It happened again two weeks ago as I was driving in for Wednesday Evening meeting – the wind began to blow quite heavily, at times pushing the car around. I arrived at church early, and watched the trees through the windows whipping around in the wind while reviewing what I had experienced with the nor’easters. Within minutes of the service starting, the wind died down, and the trees became still and stayed still throughout the service. When I returned home, it was again blowing – this time I remembered Mrs. Eddy’s comment about looking storms ‘directly in the face and seeing the face of God’ vs the claim of any another power. I stood in the doorway and attempted to follow her instructions… and the wind dissipated. The next morning there was no damage around our house, but other areas in our region had been hit with wind damage and power outages.

Interestingly, the biggest challenge in all this work was not the weather, but dealing with animal magnetism – overcoming the subtle voices that kept saying ‘yes, the wind did die down and no damage was received, but that had nothing to do with prayer – it was just luck or a matter of timing’. Even more challenging has been the resistance to sharing these with you or at a Wednesday Evening meeting which have seemed quite aggressive and personal: ‘you can’t verify this, no one will ever believe it happened… no one will ever believe you could do this – you’re not experienced enough to have accomplished these healings… even you yourself doubt it.’ Well, the truth is I did not do this – I just stood still and saw the salvation of God… and He did it.

God’s idea is always complete

We occasionally help a senior neighbor who lives by himself and needs help with day-to-day items. A few weeks ago, he called quite distressed because somehow he had lost his wallet, including his credit cards and driver’s license somewhere in the snow. This was just before our last significant snow storm, and he was quite concerned they would be coved by the impending snow, pushed aside by plows and never found. We talked about some possible steps he could take and a few practical ways we could help, and he seemed a bit more encouraged.

After he hung up, I realized that while his call was not a request for metaphysical help, my thought had been presented with the claim that a loss or disruption of good could happen, and I realized I had the right (and requirement) to handle this in my own consciousness. As I worked, it became clear that this claim was not so much about losing physical items, but the ongoing mortal argument of aging, a loss of health, happiness, familial care, diminishing life prospects, comfort, and limited goodness that challenges all of us. I worked to counter each of these claims in my thought, knowing that God’s idea is always complete, whole, perfect in Love’s constant care. The familiar citation in James (1:17) offered a framework within which to see that every spiritual attribute – whether expressed personally or through items of practical value – was always complete, ever-present, never missing:

‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’

Within a day or two I had a call from him telling me he had found his credit cards and wallet, but somehow the most important item – his driver’s license – was still missing. I kept on this line of prayer for a few more days, and then early one morning he called, saying that his license had just showed up, apparently somewhere in the house. The best part of his call was it came at a time when I was working on a claim of sickness myself, and his upbeat voice at the rediscovery of what had seemed lost lifted my thought as well and helped me move forward.